Plate II 18th-19th century

Curator: This is "Plate II" by Adrian Zingg, created sometime between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Editor: It's a landscape that feels both vast and intimate at once. So airy and quiet. Curator: Zingg was a master of topographical art, and this work exemplifies his ability to capture a sense of place, likely for the rising middle class interested in landscape imagery. Notice the workers busy harvesting in the fields. Editor: They almost blend into the landscape, tiny and purposeful. It makes me think about the rhythm of the seasons, the constant cycle of work and rest, life and death. Curator: Absolutely, and it's a reflection of the socio-economic structures of the period, too, a world that’s both romanticized and grounded in labor. The rising middle class consumes the image while the working class labors in the field. Editor: A poignant reminder of the distance between seeing and doing, then and now.