Waterlandschap bij de Adriatische Zee 1817

Editor: Here we have Ernst Willem Jan Bagelaar's etching "Waterlandschap bij de Adriatische Zee," created in 1817. It gives me this feeling of wanderlust, of a scene discovered on some long journey... what jumps out at you when you see it? Curator: Oh, the romance of it all, right? The misty distance, the dramatic cliffs… it's practically begging for a Byronic hero to brood atop. Look how Bagelaar uses etching to mimic the effects of light on water. It shimmers! Do you see how the trees on the left, almost like guardians, frame the open water leading toward some untold adventure? Editor: Yes, that's part of what creates that wandering feeling. It almost seems staged like a theatre set... do you think that's a fair comparison? Curator: Fair? Absolutely! Many artists of the Romantic period staged nature in this way. The ‘wild’ was very fashionable, yet nature as unbridled chaos was much less exciting than this curated sense of grandeur! Do you notice anything about where your eye keeps going within the frame? Editor: I keep drifting between those framing trees and the very imposing mountain in the right of the frame. They have a kind of balance in the picture. Curator: Balance, but also tension. The tamed, picturesque foreground leading to the untamed vista…it whispers of the sublime, doesn't it? The way those tiny boats get lost in all that water… a kind of fragility in the face of a dramatic vastness. And you know what I like most about this? You start to appreciate little details when you pause for thought; those little details reveal new worlds. Editor: It really gives you the urge to pause and ponder, doesn't it? Thanks! Curator: Anytime, a good work of art always leaves you a little bit different than before, a different lens on the world perhaps.