Overlijden van Johan Georg III, keurvorst van Saksen 1691

Curator: Here we have a Baroque print crafted in metal dating back to 1691 titled "Overlijden van Johan Georg III, keurvorst van Saksen," attributed to Johann Kittel. Editor: Wow, that's a mouthful. Right away, this coin feels... weighted. It has the sombre heft of history, you know? So many weighty matters embedded into this round piece. The density of time pressing down. Curator: The choice of metal as a medium offers symbolic gravitas, doesn't it? Metal’s endurance inherently alludes to Johan Georg's legacy as elector. The composition, split into two faces, presents a dialectical meditation on power and remembrance. Editor: Dialectical? It’s like one side celebrates the guy—that determined portrait!—while the other tries to encapsulate his life in teeny tiny Latin, but also accepts it's now past tense, like an epitaph. All that dense text is just…poof! Gone now. Dust. Gives you the shivers. Curator: Exactly! Consider the surface. See the relief, its creation requiring a skilled hand adept at the intaglio print process. This Baroque style often emphasizes grandeur, yet here that is juxtaposed with the inherent diminutiveness of a coin, thus reflecting upon fleeting mortality. Editor: Mortaility's a great word here, isn't it? It kind of makes me think, was this like a memento? A mournful metal postcard almost? How many of these sadness pennies were minted, and who carried them around? Curator: A most compelling interpretation. In totality, Kittel's object prompts one to reflect upon Baroque sensibilities within artistic and cultural functions. It asks one to evaluate what makes art endure even as those it memorializes have turned to…dust, as you astutely note. Editor: And the way we grapple with that…dust, that echoes through time… fascinating. I guess even the tiniest artworks can hold entire universes of feeling and meaning.