Vijf ornamentkoppen 1644 - 1718

Editor: Here we have "Five Ornamental Heads" by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, created sometime between 1644 and 1718. It’s an ink drawing or print – an engraving perhaps? It feels both whimsical and a little… foreboding? All these rather serious animal heads crammed onto one page! What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: Foreboding! I love that. Yes, these heads, hovering there... They remind me of dreams, where familiar faces morph into something other, something a touch unsettling. What do you make of their ornate quality juxtaposed with their rather severe expressions? Editor: Well, the ornamentation makes me think of Baroque extravagance, but then the harsh lines of the engraving seem to contradict that a little. Curator: Precisely! It’s this push and pull that fascinates me. Mitelli's playing with the tension between surface decoration and deeper, perhaps darker, psychological undertones. The baroque loved drama, right? Even in its decorative arts! Do you see how each head seems to almost… grimace? Editor: Yes! It’s like they’re burdened by their own elaborate adornments. The goat especially looks like it wants to shake its leafy crown off! Curator: Exactly! Almost as if Mitelli's hinting at the weight of societal expectations, the masks we wear. Maybe the human head in the helmet is just as burdened. I wonder what he would say... Editor: So it's not *just* decorative? It makes me wonder if these were studies for something larger… some grand, lost fountain perhaps? Curator: Perhaps! Or maybe just Mitelli playing with ideas, letting his imagination run wild, resulting in these delightful and slightly disturbing ornamental heads. I will see them a bit different from now. Thank you!