Constructie van een vijfhoek in een cirkel met onderaan een berglandschap 1669

This is Sébastien Leclerc’s etching, “Construction of a Pentagon in a Circle with a Mountainous Landscape Below,” from the 17th century, a time when Europe was obsessed with the scientific understanding of the world. Leclerc, as a draughtsman and printmaker to Louis XIV, lived in a world that was increasingly defined by scientific rationalism and mathematical precision. Look at how the precise geometry of the pentagon and circle contrasts with the natural, organic form of the mountain landscape below. The city in the background reminds us that "man is the measure of all things". The goat perched atop the mountain could be read as a symbol of masculine virility and dominion over nature, or perhaps as a sly nod to the pagan world that scientific rationalism sought to displace. Does this image reflect the increasing societal emphasis on reason and order? Or does it hint at the tension between the human desire to understand and control nature versus nature's inherent wildness? It is a question that still resonates today.