Deluge 1811

Curator: This print, "Deluge," by François Robert Ingouf, held here at the Harvard Art Museums, depicts a scene of chaos and desperation. Editor: My first thought? Churning. It's all about this roiling movement, both in the waters and the figures. Like a nightmare pulled from the subconscious. Curator: It draws heavily from classical imagery, specifically the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha escaping the great flood in Greek mythology. Ingouf presents a heroic male figure carrying an elderly woman to safety. Editor: But there’s something unsettling about it, isn't there? The way the mother is seemingly drowning, offering the child upwards…it's a very ambivalent kind of heroism. Is he really saving them? Curator: The print reflects anxieties around social upheaval and the fragility of life, prevalent during the period it references. Perhaps Ingouf is making a statement about leadership. Editor: I keep returning to that child. Suspended. Vulnerable. It encapsulates the whole feeling of being uprooted, doesn't it? This is a moment of rupture, caught in ink. Curator: Yes, and maybe in that rupture, Ingouf hoped for a reimagining, a new beginning. Editor: Or at least, he gave us a potent image to grapple with what it might mean.