Studie voor een naakte, vliegende engel 1668 - 1671

Editor: Here we have Jan de Bisschop's "Study for a Nude, Flying Angel," created between 1668 and 1671 using pencil. It feels quite dynamic, even unfinished. What can you tell me about how to interpret this sketch? Curator: I see a Baroque study deeply embedded in its socio-political context. Consider the artist creating images within a Western European context grappling with power structures, both earthly and divine. The nude form itself challenges and reinforces notions of classical ideals. How does the act of depicting a 'flying angel' in this raw, sketched form reflect or subvert established religious narratives, do you think? Editor: I guess the unfinished nature complicates it. Was he perhaps grappling with those very contradictions you mentioned? It's not the idealized angel you might expect. Curator: Exactly. Consider, too, the gendered implications. Angels are often presented as androgynous, yet here, the male nude raises questions about power, vulnerability, and the artist's own gaze. Does the lack of definitive finish contribute to a destabilization of that power? Editor: So, the incompleteness becomes almost a commentary in itself, challenging conventional representations and raising questions about identity. I hadn't thought about it that way. Curator: Precisely! It asks us to question whose stories are told, and how they're being told, even within what might appear a conventional religious subject. Editor: It’s amazing how much history and theory you can unpack from what looks like just a simple pencil drawing. Curator: It is in those seeming simplicity that the most potent questions about who we are and what we value reside.