Constructie van een elfhoek in een cirkel met onderaan een landschap 1669

This is an engraving called "Constructie van een elfhoek in een cirkel met onderaan een landschap", made by Sébastien Leclerc I. Note the tension between the geometrical precision above, and the landscape below, both rendered in delicate lines. The composition divides into two distinct registers. In the upper half, Leclerc meticulously depicts geometric figures: a circle circumscribing an eleven-sided polygon, complete with labeled points and construction lines. This emphasis on rational order contrasts with the lower register, presenting a pastoral scene. Here, a humble building, trees, and a distant sailboat suggest a world of natural forms and human activity. Leclerc seems to ask: how can abstract intellectual pursuits and our lived environment coexist? The sharp delineation between the geometric and the organic proposes that while we seek order and understanding, we are also part of a world that resists such perfect, rational containment.