Toneel met de personificatie van Faam (Fama), 1578 1578 - 1579

Curator: Welcome to this exploration of "Toneel met de personificatie van Faam (Fama)," or "Stage with the Personification of Fame," an engraving from 1578-79 by Antoni van Leest. Editor: It's immediately striking. The symmetry, the almost theatrical composition... it feels staged, quite literally! Curator: Indeed. Let’s consider the labor involved: the craft of engraving in this period demanded immense skill. The fine lines, meticulously etched into the metal, were replicated to create this print, which itself functioned as a reproducible image distributed within a specific socio-political landscape. It is a technical object created to have social impact. Editor: Precisely. And that staging points to the symbolic importance of fame itself. Fama, with her wings and trumpets, occupies the center, doesn’t she? Blowing the horns of praise, eternally proclaiming the subjects celebrated in the emblems above, it almost feels like it is creating fame, bringing awareness by blowing trumpets. Curator: Note too, the figures on the lower register, perhaps representing earthly celebrations— fauns playing horns? How does that position our central figure? Are these figures separate, or part of a play of representation, of what's really happening versus its depiction? Editor: It definitely complicates things. It lends a darker, more complex undercurrent to what might seem like straightforward praise. The contrast of the lower figures of supposed celebration and the subject of Fame. It's a powerful tension, creating a somewhat chaotic undertone. Curator: A chaos reflected in the Mannerist style; twisting figures, dense imagery and perhaps a commentary on the construction of celebrity, how things were amplified by political powers through crafted imagery. Editor: Seeing these figures situated within a 'stage,' in print form, gives me insight into not only its historical fame or cultural importance, but how those in the culture received and translated what it symbolized and perhaps also what to create with this newfound fame! Curator: Indeed! Through this image, it is useful to assess labor and its impact, not merely what is shown or not. What someone physically invested can amplify social implications more deeply, or perhaps show the hand in "manufactured Fame." Editor: Ultimately, seeing fame personified like this, caught in the act of broadcasting… I start to wonder who decided what qualified as “fame” then. This feels very self-aware.