Ordrups Krat 1763 - 1809

Editor: So, this is “Ordrups Krat,” made sometime between 1763 and 1809 by Elias Meyer. It seems to be a print using watercolor and engraving. The scene is just lovely! The soft colors make me think of a hazy, late afternoon. How do you read this piece? Curator: Immediately, I'm drawn to the confluence of the "high art" landscape tradition with what we might dismiss as mere reproductive craft. Look at the detail achieved through engraving, then softened with watercolor. How does this layering affect your sense of the "original"? Editor: Well, knowing it’s a print changes things a bit. It makes me wonder about the intended audience and the scale of production. Was Meyer mass-producing these or were they limited edition? Curator: Exactly! That shifts the conversation away from singular genius towards a study of artistic labor and dissemination. The engraving process itself – the precise handwork involved in etching – is vital. It also democratizes the image somewhat. But who would have had access to prints like this in the late 18th century? What materials, processes, and economic relationships were required? Editor: So, instead of just seeing a pretty landscape, we can also think about the workshops, the engravers, and even the people who supplied the paper and pigments. Curator: Precisely. We’re considering the entire network of production, labor, and distribution – the materiality of the art object. Editor: I never considered landscape art in this way before! This perspective makes the piece more interesting because you understand the labor that goes into it. Curator: Agreed. It allows us to challenge the romantic vision often associated with landscape and instead see it as a product of very real, and sometimes exploitative, material conditions.