Allegorische voorstelling met Vader Tijd die de personificatie van de eeuwigheid een plaquette van Minerva toont 1725

Louis Fabritius Dubourg created this allegorical etching, depicting Father Time presenting a plaque of Minerva to the personification of eternity. Created in the 18th century, this work reflects a society steeped in classical knowledge and allegory. These figures weren't merely decorative; they were a language, understood by the educated elite, and they spoke of values, virtues, and the structures of power. Note the winged figure of eternity, gazing at Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. Father Time, often depicted as an old man, is a reminder of the fleeting nature of human existence. What does it mean to immortalize Minerva in this way? Is it a celebration of knowledge and reason as timeless virtues? Or, given Minerva's association with warfare, does it suggest a more complicated relationship between power, memory, and eternity? This piece invites us to reflect on what we, as a society, choose to remember and how those choices shape our understanding of time itself.