Elvire weerhoudt Valeros ervan Hugo te vermoorden 1831

Curator: Oh, this print! It evokes such a heightened sense of drama. Editor: Definitely! It's small, but something about the contrast just leaps out—sort of an impulsive scene, wouldn't you say? What are we looking at? Curator: This engraving, made in 1831, is titled "Elvire weerhoudt Valeros ervan Hugo te vermoorden"—"Elvire stops Valeros from murdering Hugo," at least in the Dutch. It's currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. And that phrase just below the title— "Hugo and Elvire, a Romantic Tragedy," giving us quite a lot to unpack. Editor: A tragedy indeed, there's swords, fainting and probably tears. It definitely lives up to its romantic billing! It is, dare I say it, theatrically romantic. But, setting the obvious stage direction aside for a second, do we know which romantic tragedy this depicts? Is this Hamlet with a twist? Curator: That's an excellent question. The author is A. van der Hoop Jr. It probably responds to Schiller, given the fragment printed near the middle; it’s a quote by Schiller that says "Life is not the highest of goods, But the blame is" That might gives us a frame about the scene, the need for honour that trascends survival itself! But it makes me wonder about questions of translation. It's hard to pinpoint the full cultural context without a deep dive into Dutch literature of the period, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Right, and even with Schiller's line it begs so many questions about power dynamics within romantic literature of the era. Who decides what that blame really means? Curator: Exactly! Considering it’s housed at the Rijksmuseum, and made in the Netherlands we have to look at contemporary post-Napoleonic anxieties about gender roles and national identity in Europe. Are Valeros' violence and Elvire’s gesture to stop him playing into anxieties and conservative gender performances after so many years of war? What a lot to pack for a stage of a dramatic incident into the intimacy of an engraving. Editor: A pocket sized soap opera, isn't it? With the architecture reduced to abstract arches. Curator: Well, perhaps "intimate" isn't the right word then. Editor: In either case it’s one those pieces where you end up wondering more and more about the original inspiration each time you see it. I think I like it more the more questions I have about it!