Vignet med præst og ældre mand 1789

Georg Christian Schule etched this vignette of a priest and an elderly man. The standing priest holds a book, likely a bible, as the seated man points towards a peculiar object hanging from the ceiling. The act of pointing, a gesture laden with intention, echoes through art history—from the accusatory finger of John the Baptist to the didactic gestures in Renaissance paintings. Here, the man's pointed finger directs our gaze towards the curious object above, perhaps a symbol of mortality or salvation. Consider how such symbols evolve; the skull in a Dutch still life becomes a memento mori, a reminder of life's transience, while similar motifs appear in indigenous cultures. This vignette, like the images in my own Mnemosyne Atlas, is not merely an isolated artwork but a node in a vast network of cultural memory, constantly reshaped by the currents of history.