Cartouches en putto met doodshood 1731 - 1788

Curator: Isn't it curious? I keep returning to this 18th-century engraving by Johann Esaias Nilson. It's titled "Cartouches en putto met doodshood," or "Cartouches with putto and skull," here at the Rijksmuseum. A visual memento mori served up with baroque flourish. Editor: Well, morbid cherubs are certainly... striking. A tad unsettling, but the overall composition feels remarkably balanced. It has a symmetry that soothes even as the skull leers. It reminds me of certain dream logic—disquieting but strangely coherent. Curator: Exactly! The putti, so often symbols of innocence and divine love, are here intertwined with death's heads, forming these elaborate cartouches. What does that juxtaposition evoke in you? Editor: A dance between oblivion and immortality, perhaps? Skulls remind us what decays, cherubs point toward some enduring spirit. It feels deeply Baroque – luxuriating in that tension, revelling in paradox. There are clear "Vanitas" theme. Curator: The symbols go further, right? Look at the empty cartouches, framed like mirrors, beckoning us to reflect on our own mortality, while other frames seem to suggest an afterlife beyond the grave. It’s like Nilson asks: what will your cartouche hold? What story do you want to be remembered for? Editor: Oh, I love that. And then consider the putti. One rests atop a skull, almost indifferently. Is it conquering death, ignoring it, or simply too innocent to understand? Such questions! So much emotional ambiguity woven into this delicate engraving, these little pen marks and engraving. This is beautiful "pen work". Curator: And that, I believe, is its enduring appeal. Nilson wasn’t just decorating a page. He was staging a miniature philosophical drama, a mirror reflecting not only death, but the vitality that persists, dances, even mocks in its face. Editor: A slightly theatrical, slightly macabre reminder that even as things end, life continues in the symbolism of death. How fascinating and how wonderful to contemplate on that image for more than just two minutes!