Het Huis te Zuylen 1748

Jacob van Liender created this image of Het Huis te Zuylen using pen and watercolor. The eye is immediately drawn to the architectural details and the statues that adorn the gate. These figures are reminiscent of herms from antiquity, often depicted as protective deities, their stoic presence echoing through the ages. Herms were boundary markers in ancient Greece, guardians of thresholds. We can see a similar protective symbolism in this image. The gate statues, like their classical ancestors, stand as silent sentinels, guarding not just a physical space but also the essence and history of the estate. This act of invoking classical forms suggests a yearning to connect with a venerable past, imbuing the present with a sense of timelessness, reflecting humanity's continuous, cyclical return to foundational ideas. These visual themes resurface across generations, revealing our shared, underlying psychology.