De koning van Allekatten, en de koning van Ternate, met allerhande wilde en tamme gedierten 1806 - 1830

Curator: Here we have a rather peculiar engraving and etching on paper attributed to Johan Noman, dating sometime between 1806 and 1830. The lengthy title reads: "De koning van Allekatten, en de koning van Ternate, met allerhande wilde en tamme gedierten." It’s part of the Rijksmuseum collection. Editor: Well, my immediate impression is a whimsical bestiary. Like a deck of oddball playing cards with each tableau odder than the last. There's something dreamlike, and vaguely unsettling about these figures in boxes. Curator: Unsettling is an interesting choice of words. Perhaps the somewhat crude lines and the isolated framing contribute to that feeling. The artist seems less concerned with anatomical accuracy and more interested in symbolic representation, wouldn’t you agree? The use of simple, almost childlike forms speaks to the tradition of folk art, maybe a narrative exploration through archetypes. Editor: Definitely archetypal. These feel like characters plucked from a fable I can’t quite recall. Each little box a stage, frozen in some silent drama. What’s with those splashes of red ink, like little accidents, on so many creatures? Curator: The addition of red ink introduces an element that is indeed outside the rigorous formal order. This choice highlights specific features, such as wounds, crowns, or markings, inviting further inquiry. If the core aesthetic pivots towards restraint, the introduction of rouge resonates on symbolic registers pertaining to vigor or perhaps, corporeal fragility. Editor: Or, dare I say, a bit of morbid humor? I mean, look at the melancholy stare of that "noble deer," as if resigned to its fate! It certainly adds to that unsettling dreamscape vibe. One imagines the artist chuckling to himself while daubing these little blots. It lends such odd texture to what would otherwise be somewhat staid, you know? Curator: It certainly disrupts a clean reading. Yet in doing so it elevates a collection of illustrations to something altogether other; imbuing them with subjective emotion. It speaks to the human element present during construction. It gives the image—it furnishes it, even—with an affecting quality absent in simple ink on vellum. Editor: Right, that's what's so charming and subtly disturbing, it is almost like finding the secret thoughts lurking just behind those deceptively simple lines. It hints at a hidden narrative. Curator: Yes, ultimately it prompts us to consider that which cannot be readily articulated—making visible the intangible relationship between author, artwork, and, finally, audience. Editor: Absolutely. I shall carry that noble, but injured deer, in my thoughts today.