Reproductie van een prent van de inname van de citadel van Antwerpen in 1577 door Johannes Wierix naar Maerten de Vos before 1880

This anonymous engraving by Johannes Wierix after Maerten de Vos depicts the Siege of Antwerp in 1577. At its heart, a clash of soldiers unfolds, framed by a circle reminiscent of both a lens and a mirror. Above, allegorical figures preside, one holding what appears to be a mirror, the other gesturing towards a fire. The mirror, an ancient symbol, reflects truth but also vanity; the fire, a source of destruction and purification. Think of the many vanitas paintings in which a mirror's surface reflects both earthly beauty and the stark reminder of mortality. Similarly, fire appears in countless myths as the bringer of transformation and ruin, consider the eternal flame of the hearth, a symbol of the family and the home. These motifs remind us that history is not just a linear progression of events but a cyclical drama. The siege itself becomes a stage, framed by these symbols of reflection and change. These images burrow deep into our collective consciousness. They speak to the ever-present tension between creation and destruction, truth and illusion, memory and forgetting.