Hest, dækket af skaberak, profil mod v., tøjret til et træ; i baggrunden by med kegleformet borg i cirkulær vandgrav 1582

Curator: Wow, there’s something profoundly melancholy about this image. A heavy stillness hangs in the air, doesn’t it? Editor: This woodcut and engraving, dating from 1582, comes from the hand of Melchior Lorck. Its title, quite a mouthful, translates to "Horse, covered with a saddle cloth, profile to the left, tied to a tree; in the background, a town with a cone-shaped castle in a circular moat.” It resides here with us, at the Statens Museum for Kunst. Curator: Saddle cloth, you say? To me, it looks more like… armor. Like the horse is completely encased. Perhaps symbolic armor? Protecting… what? Editor: Well, the saddle cloth – or the armor, as you see it – does feel rather protective. Horses, of course, have long held a powerful place in our collective symbolic lexicon. Consider the horse in mythology: a symbol of strength, freedom, even psychic ability, bearing heroes and gods. Curator: Yes! But here, that symbolism feels inverted. Trapped in an elaborate, striped shell, tied to a scraggly tree. The background shows us a town barricaded by a perfectly circular moat. Everything feels constrained, guarded. As if vitality itself is being suppressed. Editor: You’re sensing the visual cues correctly, I believe. Look at the contrast in the textures: the detailed 'armor' of the horse set against the flat landscape and almost minimalist representation of water. Perhaps it suggests a society preoccupied with outward appearance. The town within the circular moat, which implies cycles of rebirth, becomes less optimistic when contrasted with the confined horse. Curator: Rebirth shackled. Yes, exactly. The sharp lines of the woodcut only reinforce that feeling, adding an element of rigidity. This piece isn’t just showing us a horse; it’s reflecting, or even lamenting, a certain state of being. Editor: Agreed. It uses figuration to evoke very contemporary feelings. In Lorck’s rendering, we can discover an ancestor of our own anxieties, our own efforts to navigate what’s known and what is possible. It is not simply "horse tied to a tree;" it’s the embodiment of feeling restricted by material limitations. Curator: It’s striking how such a seemingly simple image can hold so much. Now, excuse me, I think I need to go untangle myself from something... Editor: It leaves you reflecting, doesn't it? I leave with an appreciation of how an artifact that's hundreds of years old reflects the unchanging truths about being human.