Neptunus op een dolfijn 1772 - 1773

Curator: Welcome! We are standing before "Neptunus op een dolfijn," or "Neptune on a Dolphin," an engraving created around 1772-1773. The piece, a print, is held here at the Rijksmuseum and made by Antoine Alexandre Joseph Cardon after a drawing by J.B. Visschers. Editor: Oh, my! The god looks quite nonchalant for someone about to skewer a dolphin! Maybe he's having second thoughts. The whole thing has this almost…comical feel, despite the deadly weapon. Curator: It’s interesting you say that. Consider the socio-political climate; prints like these served a crucial function. They weren't just decorative; they disseminated ideas, and classical subjects like Neptune held symbolic weight. Editor: Well, symbolism aside, there’s something almost theatrical about it. The posing, the miniature cherubs perched on their plinths like stage props… It's as if everyone’s waiting for their cue! Curator: Precisely! Think of the role that public spectacle played. Cardon would likely have conceived this work with a wider viewing audience in mind. The politics of imagery here are deeply embedded in the very process of mass-production for public consumption. Editor: And the composition… I find it both engaging and somehow unsettling. Neptune is off-center, lounging with what looks like his best Sunday garb, next to cherubs contemplating mortality or merely bored by immortality… Which begs the question what’s the relation here and what is the author saying to us about power, history or mythology itself? Curator: And what do you take away from Neptune, god of the sea, immortalized as an object of artistic mass consumption? It challenges and reinforces social hierarchies, reflecting the aesthetic and political ideals of the time, particularly ideas of the Baroque with the revival and update of antiquity for a mass public. Editor: Right! It reminds us to challenge authority—mythological or political—even when wrapped in the prettiest of Baroque engravings. Or maybe it’s all just a god and his dolphin. I still find it strangely amusing! Curator: Indeed! Let's move on to the next artwork.