Obelisk met trap en twee urnen 1715 - 1798

Dionys van Nijmegen rendered this artwork of an obelisk with stairs and two urns on paper using watercolor. The obelisk, a form derived from ancient Egyptian sun worship, stands here as a stoic emblem of memory and power. Note how the artist places urns on either side, funerary objects that echo through time from classical antiquity. Consider the echoes of Egyptian obelisks repurposed by Roman emperors, symbols of their conquered empire and divine right, and then later as civic monuments throughout Europe. It is as if each iteration absorbs the cultural anxieties and aspirations of its age, and a yearning for permanence. The obelisk in this watercolor may evoke a feeling of longing for a connection to the past, a deep resonance triggered by a form that has witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, connecting our present to echoes of lost grandeur.