Spinles 1889

Oscar Schulz created this etching, titled "Spinles", showing a woman and a girl with a spinning wheel. This is no mere domestic scene; the act of spinning thread is loaded with cultural significance. The spinning wheel is an ancient instrument, dating back to antiquity, when myths like that of the Moirai assigned to it the spinning of the thread of life. In fairy tales, spinning has symbolic weight: recall Sleeping Beauty, where the spindle is an instrument of fate. It is interesting to note how in these tales spinning is mainly linked with women, and often used to represent domestic virtue, but also female cunning. Observe this etching, and you can almost hear the wheel turning, linking past to present. The image reminds us that symbols are never static; they evolve, resurface, and transform in the collective memory.