The Persecution of Job 1500 - 1550

Editor: Here we have Georg Pencz's "The Persecution of Job," an engraving dating back to the first half of the 16th century. There's such bleakness in this scene. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: You know, it’s funny, that's my first thought too - utter bleakness, yet within it, I see a flicker of profound humanity, twisted as it is. Pencz really captures that Northern Renaissance obsession with mortality, doesn't he? The stark lines, the emaciated figure of Job... it all screams "life is suffering." I wonder if Pencz was going through a rough patch himself at the time... Or maybe everyone in Nuremberg was! How much was bubonic plague at play here, influencing artistic sensibilities, I wonder... Tell me, what kind of narrative resonances does this small scene hold for you? Editor: I guess it's the universality of suffering that resonates. Even though it’s a biblical story, it feels… timeless. Job loses everything, his family, his health… It’s brutal. It's the human drama played out. But I struggle a bit with the background. Is that his house burning? Curator: Oh, yes, the details! It is indeed his house aflame - notice how calmly the woman strides toward Job, as if nothing can truly wound him further. But did you clock the weird bird-like figure looming near Job? A demon of sorts, perhaps? Or is it some odd Renaissance medical figure or some harbinger? That thing unsettles me the most, I confess, the lack of answers around it. So then, where does that uncertainty take us in our assessment of the image? Editor: Hmmm... Perhaps it highlights how suffering can be incomprehensible, that there is a monstrous or unexplained quality to tragedy. This was really helpful to understand. Curator: Agreed, this makes a difference. Ultimately the question is whether or not one accepts all the unknowns, and the extent to which we each have a choice in doing so. What a marvel that Georg Pencz has delivered so much existential material within such a tight frame.