Titelprent voor het Tafereel der Dwaasheid, 1720 1720

Editor: Here we have Jacob Folkema’s “Title Print for the Theatre of Foolishness, 1720,” a print and engraving on paper currently held at the Rijksmuseum. The intricate details draw me in, yet the scene feels… unsettling, almost like a distorted dream. What symbols stand out to you in this piece? Curator: The "theatre" aspect is key here. Baroque prints often used theatrical metaphors. What is being staged, or rather, satirized? Look at the central image: Father Time gazing at a woman holding a sphere, an orb marked with investment sectors, no doubt. She is being tempted into premature enrichment, her face reflecting delusion rather than reality. What do you make of the figures bordering the image? Editor: They seem to be cleaning up... or trying to, perhaps, the mess made by the bubble? Curator: Precisely. They are archetypes, physical representations of the clean-up crew: those left to deal with the aftermath of financial folly. Consider the overflowing basket above: these symbolize the debris, the worthless commodities. This imagery, drawn from earlier traditions, gained renewed relevance in the wake of economic crashes, acting as a kind of visual catharsis. What do you notice in the top border, those almost grotesque ornamental heads? Editor: Well, there's what looks like a cow's head...and some sort of snarling beast! Not what I was expecting in a decorative flourish. Curator: The contrast is deliberate. Even within supposedly safe harbor like decoration, we see elements of vice. Those monstrous figures could well be a variation on "momus" heads – satiric reminders of humanity’s flaws that can fester, undermining all. Editor: So, the artwork serves not just as documentation, but also as a moral lesson about greed? Curator: Indeed. It leverages existing visual language to communicate complex ideas, reminding the viewer of collective history, the folly of irrational exuberance. What a smart iconographical rendering of early modern economic life! Editor: I see that so much more clearly now. The symbols create multiple layers of meaning, it really is a mirror reflecting anxieties. Curator: A visual language of anxiety. And loss. Something to always watch out for!