View of a Château 1735 - 1782

Editor: This is "View of a Château" by Nicolas Pérignon the Elder, made sometime between 1735 and 1782, using watercolor and colored pencil. It feels very formal and distant. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Considering the Rococo style, it's fascinating to analyze the materiality. The combination of watercolor and colored pencil suggests a desire for precision alongside delicate hues. Think about the pigments available at the time— where did those materials come from, and who was involved in their processing and distribution? Editor: That's a good point. I hadn't thought about the labor behind the materials themselves. So, the choice of these particular media says something about access and class? Curator: Precisely. And how the chateau as an institution maintains and expands this kind of access. The colored pencil and watercolor allow for a precise yet fanciful depiction, ideal for presenting an image of idealized aristocratic life through prints which extend their influence even wider. Who would have been commissioning or consuming these prints, and what image of wealth would the commissioners have wished to extend? Editor: It's almost like a form of early advertising. To inspire awe, to control access to social advancement. Curator: Indeed! The work becomes an instrument, both literally as a reproducible print and ideologically as a reinforcement of societal hierarchy. Do you consider this image as "high art"? Where does one place it considering our prior point that it extends social hierachy beyond the elite class via the proliferation of printed images? Editor: It bridges high art and the beginning of mass media almost, that distinction feels like it blurs based on materials and the means of its dissemination. It’s really fascinating. Curator: Absolutely, by examining its means of production and consumption, we begin to really appreciate this supposed "View of a Chateau". Thank you for sharing your perspectives! Editor: Thanks so much! This was incredibly insightful.