Two red ducks 

Curator: Here we have “Two Red Ducks”, a watercolour drawing by Aert Schouman, believed to have been produced sometime in the 18th century. What are your first impressions? Editor: My immediate thought is that they are strikingly rendered, yet there is a kind of formality. I sense these weren't intended merely as ornithological records. Curator: I’m interested you say that. Schouman, like many artists of his time, was deeply invested in the techniques and the qualities of the materials themselves. Watercolor as a medium offered particular possibilities and limitations – a certain transparency but also a dependence on the paper surface. I imagine sourcing suitable pigments and high-quality paper involved a whole network of craftspeople and merchants. Editor: That attention to detail and medium makes sense. But notice how the positioning of the ducks--one prominent in the foreground, the other perched aloofly--gives them a strange gravitas. It elevates them beyond mere representations of fowl. It reminds me of heraldry. Ducks in themselves are pretty loaded as symbols; representing adaptability, resourcefulness, connecting to emotional depths… are these Dutch ducks symbols of some particular family line perhaps? Curator: Possibly, yes, the context in which Schouman was working in the 18th century would have meant commissioned pieces would’ve been common and it could indeed allude to something beyond simply being ducks. What stands out for me are the ways that Schouman is clearly making choices, manipulating washes to capture specific textures. See how he builds depth with layers of color to show the form and create shadows, to define and refine the subject. This adds weight and a richness to it all, doesn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. The colours lend themselves to considering what they were aiming at. Looking at those deep blacks near the duck’s neck, those accents…they have this sort of inherent sombre, weighty effect. Given his profession as a glass painter it also lends itself to remembering how materials and form inform function and iconography. I think what it really makes clear for me is that this image communicates something essential and resonant about animal life and representation even centuries on. Curator: A lovely encapsulation, that’s precisely what examining artwork such as these offers us as we consider their history. Thank you. Editor: Indeed, thank you.