Stadsgezicht c. 1828 - 1897

Curator: This is a pencil drawing called "Stadsgezicht," or "Cityscape," attributed to Adrianus Eversen. It's thought to date from somewhere between 1828 and 1897. What are your first thoughts? Editor: Stark and ghostly. It looks more like a fleeting memory of a city than a deliberate portrayal. There’s something almost unsettling about its unfinished quality. Curator: Well, it's likely a preparatory sketch, a common practice during Eversen’s time for developing larger, more finished pieces. Sketches like this were crucial to developing formal compositions. Editor: Absolutely. And as a sketch, it offers insight into Eversen's process, how he was thinking through space and form. Look at how he suggests the height and scale of the buildings with just a few lines. I'm curious, do you see something distinctly Dutch about this city? Curator: The geometric lines, the suggestion of gabled roofs, evoke the Golden Age cityscapes, certainly. There’s an emphasis on capturing architectural details, fitting in with Dutch artistic tradition of depicting their cities. Editor: Right, but also consider what those clean, geometric lines came to represent – a society built on mercantilism, where everything was quantified and measured, including aesthetics. How might Eversen be engaging with that legacy? Curator: That’s a rich perspective. I see him operating within the visual language of the 19th-century cityscape, documenting urban development and contributing to a visual record of changing social spaces, documenting the places where social classes mix. Editor: A point well taken. Still, one cannot ignore the lack of human presence. Buildings stand as monuments but the lives of ordinary people are absent. It raises questions about who is centered and who is marginalized within these depictions. Curator: A vital reminder to read these cityscapes critically. I think analyzing who, and what, is left out helps expose hidden power dynamics. This exercise gives new life to the work. Editor: Precisely. And perhaps a renewed purpose, inspiring viewers to question the narratives embedded within these cityscapes.