Herhaling van een van de romeinse soldaten op verso van blad 11 1585 - 1587

Editor: This sketch, "Herhaling van een van de romeinse soldaten op verso van blad 11," which translates to "Repetition of one of the Roman soldiers on the back of sheet 11", was made with pencil and coloured pencil on paper sometime between 1585 and 1587 by an anonymous artist. The figure is so lightly sketched, almost like a ghost image. What symbolic reading would you give this drawing? Curator: That lightness is key. Even the ‘repetition’ in the title suggests the layering of memory, how forms echo and re-emerge, slightly altered, in our minds and culture. The Roman soldier – already a symbol of power, order, empire – is presented here as a faint impression. Why do you think the artist chose such a delicate rendering? Editor: Perhaps they wanted to convey the impermanence of empires or question the glorification of military might? Curator: Precisely. The act of repeatedly drawing this soldier, but each time fainter, implies a meditation on the weight of the past. Is it a critical commentary on cultural memory and the power structures we inherit, destined to fade or transform? The sketch invites us to consider how we construct and perpetuate narratives about power, and the cyclical nature of their influence. Look also how other figures appear below… is it another symbolic layering? Editor: That makes so much sense. I didn’t even consider how the technique contributes to the meaning. Thanks for shedding light on those layers. Curator: My pleasure. Remember, symbols evolve. The challenge is to decipher how they functioned then, and how they speak to us now.