Niet de vorm, maar de vruchten after 1585

Curator: This engraving, "Niet de vorm, maar de vruchten" or "Not the Form, but the Fruit," by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder, was created sometime after 1585 and is currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It’s a striking example of Northern Renaissance genre painting. Editor: It has such a fairytale feel, doesn't it? Like stepping into a forgotten storybook with its meticulous detailing. Curator: Absolutely, that detail is crucial to understanding its appeal in its own time. Consider the material: an engraving meant multiplication, greater accessibility to the image. Editor: It feels deeply connected to its time. I see this interplay between labour and nature: people picking fruit in the orchard but rendered with such fine precision. Curator: It’s tempting to see a moralistic undertone; a reminder about virtuous industry or warnings against excess, but really the focus of this work is material—what does fruit represent as an object for consumption? Editor: Yes, what are the rewards? Is there more to life than the labour? Maybe those fruits are our good works, and not what defines us. But then…what defines us? The work itself perhaps. The means of production always coming back to it, such as tools or techniques Curator: Indeed. Here in Northern Renaissance engraving, the visual representation of labor is what offers up meaning itself. We are asked to consider the landscape's potential within a social context. Editor: This piece leaves me pondering the constant tension between form and substance and perhaps a desire for something lasting amid fleeting harvests. The work reminds us both of what we make and how we choose to do so. It's strangely moving, isn't it?