Cottage with Roof of Thatch 1760

Curator: This is "Cottage with Roof of Thatch," an etching by Johann Georg Wille. Editor: It feels so intimate, like stumbling upon a secret, quiet place. The details, despite the small scale, are wonderful! Curator: Wille was a master printmaker. Look closely and you'll see his skill at rendering texture, from the rough thatch to the crumbling stone. He was incredibly popular in his time. Editor: It's funny, it makes me think about how we romanticize rural life. I wonder if people saw this then as a pure escape from city living, or if it was more complicated. Curator: Certainly. These kinds of images contributed to ideas about the natural world, rustic simplicity. But also obscured the realities of rural poverty and labor. Editor: It's a tiny picture that holds big ideas. I think it's a valuable reminder that the stories we tell ourselves about places are often incomplete.