Vertical Panel with a Candelabrum Supported by Two Half-Length Female Figures 1520 - 1540

Curator: This intriguing engraving is entitled "Vertical Panel with a Candelabrum Supported by Two Half-Length Female Figures," created between 1520 and 1540 by Barthel Beham. It currently resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Wow, it looks like something you’d find etched into an antique mirror. Intricate, slightly surreal, with that whole high-renaissance love of…symmetry and ornamentation, am I right? Curator: Precisely. From a formalist perspective, the bilateral symmetry is key here. It gives the piece balance and harmony. The vertical orientation further enhances this sense of stability. Look closely at how the artist employs line, especially in creating the illusion of volume and texture, through hatching and cross-hatching. Editor: Hatching! Good word! It's funny you mention symmetry...I can’t help but wonder what's up with those two femme-fish at the base? It’s so...oddly charming. Like, are they supporting this whole elaborate candelabra dreamscape, or are they trapped by it? Curator: An astute observation. These hybrid figures do act as foundational supports while contributing to the overall decorative scheme. Function and form are in dialogue. The engraving medium itself – the deliberate act of incising lines into a metal plate – lends an almost architectural precision to the piece. Think of Beham, etching away, meticulously constructing this elaborate design line by line. Editor: So, Beham's trying to wow us with craftsmanship, with the art of making itself, while hinting at the stories these bizarre forms are hinting at... it is funny that so much energy is going into one panel—almost like it is just… an aesthetic exercise in and of itself! Curator: It can be seen as that – a celebration of design. But within that virtuosity, there's a playful subversion of expectations. It seems almost, from my perspective, to hint towards later art movements, like the Mannerism! Editor: See, and there I was thinking “tiki bar!”—shows you what I know! Anyway, so next time I look at any artwork, especially anything that I might describe as symmetrical—or having symmetry, I will want to dig below its surface! Curator: Dig deep below the symmetrical surfaces! That would be great, thank you.