Pyramus and Thisbe 1620s - 1630s

Francesco Liberti captured this scene of Pyramus and Thisbe in paint sometime in the 17th century. The starkest image is Thisbe, who is pictured with a cloth draped over her head; her arm outstretched in a grief-stricken gesture. This pose—the arm extended, mouth open in a silent scream—echoes through centuries of art history. One sees it in ancient Roman mourning figures and later in baroque depictions of saints in ecstasy, and one cannot help but remember its recurrence in the modern age with Munch’s iconic Scream. Such gestures tap into our collective unconscious, stirring primal emotions. Thisbe's pose is not merely a display of sorrow, but a raw expression of pain that bypasses rational thought, engaging us on a deeply visceral level. This is an example of how symbols, like echoes in a grand hall, resurface, evolving, and taking on new meanings.