Man kijkt door het raam van een wisselkantoor 1875 - 1913

Arthur Puls created this etching, Man Looking Through the Window of an Exchange Office. Notice the man's posture: head bowed, gaze fixed downwards. This is the ancient gesture of melancholia, seen in depictions of Saturn or allegorical figures of sorrow. Consider Dürer's "Melancholia I," where the winged figure sits similarly, surrounded by tools unused, lost in thought. Here, the setting shifts to a modern exchange office, a place of financial transaction. The papers scattered before him suggest not just commerce, but perhaps also confusion, or the weight of economic worry. This posture isn't merely physical; it's a mirror reflecting inner turmoil. The act of looking down, of being weighed down, persists through ages, connecting Dürer’s allegorical figure to this anonymous man at the exchange office. It becomes a timeless symbol of introspection and human vulnerability, echoing in our collective memory.