Near Walchwyl c. 18th century

Editor: This is Salomon Gessner's "Near Walchwyl." It's a detailed landscape scene, and I'm struck by how the building seems almost like a stage for the people in the foreground. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see the rise of the picturesque aesthetic. Gessner is staging an idealized, almost theatrical, view of rural life for an increasingly urban audience. How do you think this image might have functioned in its time? Editor: Maybe as a kind of escapism? A reminder of a simpler life? Curator: Precisely! And think about how the print medium makes this accessible. It democratizes the experience of landscape. Editor: That's a great point. I hadn't thought about the role of printmaking itself. Thanks! Curator: It's all about context! We need to consider art's public role.