Grotesque with Four Fauns, Two Rearing Horses, and Two Tritons Blowing Horns 1562

Curator: This is Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau's "Grotesque with Four Fauns, Two Rearing Horses, and Two Tritons Blowing Horns," held here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Immediately, I feel transported! It's like a dreamscape, filled with bizarre symmetry and playful mythical creatures. Curator: Du Cerceau, active in the 16th century, was instrumental in disseminating Italian Renaissance design throughout France through prints like this. He really highlights the era's interest in ornament and classical motifs. Editor: Exactly. It’s intricate, almost dizzying. I keep thinking about the artisan meticulously etching each line; I wonder what they imagined this odd composition would evoke. Curator: The print served as inspiration for artisans and craftspeople. Consider how it merges "high" art and craft—how the ornamental details, from the fauns to the tritons, could be translated into furniture, ceramics, or even garden design. Editor: It’s wild to think of this tiny image inspiring, say, an entire fountain. It feels so alive and strange, like a visual poem. Curator: A perfect summation. These prints offered a language, a set of forms to shape the world around them. Editor: A world far more fantastical, perhaps, than our own. I am left feeling like I’ve awakened from a very interesting dream.