Cast Iron Railing c. 1936

Here is the watercolor Cast Iron Railing made by Lucien Verbeke. Note the ironwork festooned with grapevine motifs. The grape, a symbol of abundance and fertility, has been charged with meaning through time, from its association with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and ecstasy, to its adoption as a sacred emblem in Christian art, representing the blood of Christ and the Eucharist. This duality of intoxication and holy sacrifice mirrors our own complex relationship with pleasure and transcendence. One sees echoes of these motifs in the architecture of the Renaissance, in which classical forms were revived. The grapevine motif, once an emblem of pagan revelry, now adorns sacred spaces. These symbols persist in our collective consciousness, manifesting in art and culture. This is not a linear progression, but a cyclical return, a testament to the enduring power of symbols to shape our understanding of the world and our place within it.