Gezicht op Château de Vinalmont before 1890

This photogravure of the Château de Vinalmont was produced by Victor Gaillard, a Belgian artist in the late 19th century. During this time, the picturesque and romantic views of castles mirrored a nostalgic longing for a feudal past, even as industrialization swept across Europe. What stories do these grand estates conceal, standing as symbols of power? They speak of aristocracy, lineage, and the vast disparities in wealth that defined the era. The photogravure aesthetic with its soft focus evokes a dream-like quality. This lends the Château an air of timelessness, removed from the social realities of the period. Gaillard does not offer a critical perspective on the elite, nor does he romanticize them. Instead he captures the Château as a subject of aesthetic appreciation. This image leaves me pondering whose stories are not being told. The lives of those who maintained these estates, whose labor sustained the opulence, are conspicuously absent.