Gezicht op de Gemmipas 1784 - 1850

Editor: This is *Gezicht op de Gemmipas*, or View of the Gemmi Pass, made sometime between 1784 and 1850 by Franz Hegi. It’s an engraving on paper. It’s… striking! Very dramatic. Almost foreboding with those sharp, angular lines creating these massive rock formations. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Ooh, I see a soul craving grandeur, wouldn’t you say? Hegi’s Gemmi Pass isn't just a landscape, darling, it's a feeling etched in ink! Those stark lines and that theatrical composition speak of Romanticism, doesn't it? Almost shouting, “Look at nature’s power!” Imagine the 18th-century traveler gazing upon this! Editor: Romanticism through Neoclassical lines? Is that… allowed? Curator: Allowed? Sweetheart, art is about breaking rules, isn’t it? And perhaps bending them a little. I picture Hegi, perched on some perilous crag, sketching away with ink-stained fingers, equally fascinated by classical structure, yet desperate to capture that raw, untamed spirit. That little road snaking down adds to the sublime. It's almost humorous, humanity’s tiny attempt to tame all *that*. What do *you* think? Editor: It is a bit comical now that you mention it! I never thought of it that way before. Thanks to the almost photographic attention to detail of the rock and mountain formation the human element contrasts very much, becoming this small squiggle at the foot of all that height and mass. The scale, that is, makes one wonder. Thank you! Curator: It also makes the sublime, maybe. A great reminder of how teeny we really are! Editor: Absolutely! Well, that really opened my eyes.