Gezicht op een wintereik c. 1868

Editor: Here we have Ladmore and Son's photograph, "Gezicht op een wintereik", from around 1868, made using the albumen print process. It's quite striking, really, how the solitary tree commands such a quiet presence. What stories do you think this old oak could tell? Curator: Oh, if trees could talk, what sagas we'd hear! This image, to me, whispers of resilience. The stark branches against that muted sky... it's a melancholic beauty, wouldn't you say? Naturalism was peaking then; a reverence for nature, a yearning to capture its raw essence. Does that yearning speak to you at all, or do you hear something different in its tones? Editor: I hadn’t really picked up on the melancholy, more just...stillness, perhaps. I guess I can see it. Why photograph just one tree? Curator: Maybe Ladmore and Son saw in that single tree a mirror of the human spirit – standing strong, bearing witness to time’s relentless march, and capturing a quiet drama! Perhaps it was commissioned, or maybe it simply caught their eye with the grandeur it offered, prompting the picture and securing its placement here as The Tibberton Oak with so much storied local character surrounding it. What kind of legacy are we observing here, do you think? Editor: That's beautiful! I do see it now. It feels very...personal, like more than just documentation. Curator: Precisely! It invites us to contemplate not only the natural world, but also our place within it, the beauty that nature so unabashedly demonstrates. I think I might like to sit at its base and ponder exactly that on a late winter's evening, or read something of classic, wise, epic quality and simply just sit there and breathe it all in, almost experiencing all that it must. I'm very thankful it has a photo of it. It reminds us of ourselves. Thanks for guiding our look into the arboreal with our rooted brother!