Jonge vrouw met gebloemde omslagdoek 1886

This etching by François de Meersman depicts a young woman adorned with a floral headscarf and a patterned shawl, evocative of distant lands. The floral motifs symbolize beauty and transience, echoing the cyclical nature of life and rebirth that has resonated across cultures since ancient times. The headscarf, while simple, carries echoes of the veils and diadems worn by figures in classical antiquity, hinting at both modesty and status. Think of the draped figures in Roman frescoes, their heads covered as symbols of piety and virtue. The longing gaze of the woman evokes a sense of melancholy that transcends time, as the human longing for something just out of reach taps into a deep, primeval layer of the subconscious, engaging viewers on a profound, emotional level. Such visual language is never truly new, it continually resurfaces, evolving and taking on new meanings in each historical context, proving that, indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.