Hermes befaler Kalypso at frigive Odysseus 1745 - 1786

Curator: There’s something about the somber quality that's just pulling me into this image. What a wonderfully muted scene. Editor: Indeed. Here we have Johan Mandelberg's, "Hermes befaler Kalypso at frigive Odysseus," or, "Hermes Commands Calypso to Release Odysseus." The date ascribed is 1745-1786. It is presently housed at the Statens Museum for Kunst. Curator: Baroque with almost photographic qualities, wouldn't you agree? The texture... and this being a painting? Astonishing! I can practically smell the canvas, it smells of aged wood. Editor: Notice the production value itself, seemingly straightforward materials transformed into an exercise of symbolic capital within the narrative-art and historical painting tradition. It's a dance of labor, prestige, and myth, spun into form. And don't let your senses fool you too much, I hope there's a nice thick glass that separates your nose from it! Curator: It's a very dominating black and white theme. Everything exists in this grey area which makes the topic matter feel somber. But Hermes reclining there so nonchalantly! It adds a weird twist, a contemporary edge, maybe even a bit cynical? Is that a cloud he's sitting on? Editor: Indeed. Mandelberg utilized the pictorial strategies of the Baroque to underscore the central narratives within Homer’s *Odyssey*. Consider how the means of distribution, primarily through aristocratic circles, cemented both its symbolic and tangible worth. Each brushstroke, each carefully considered pigment, serves a function, both within the artistic economy of the time and the narrative itself. How consumption intertwines itself. Curator: That's why it's hanging in this space right? Art in the context of consumption... But, speaking purely subjectively for a moment—Hermes just looks so bored. Doesn't he? Editor: Ha! Precisely. Mandelberg isn't merely illustrating; he's staging power dynamics through composition and carefully controlled tonality. I mean...just think about it! It reflects our modern engagement, and what we assign as critical to our spaces and being in community together. Curator: Yes...so powerful still. Editor: A somber and enduring creation.