Fortuna zonder voeten, staande op een bol c. 1575 - 1580

Editor: Here we have Jan Snellinck's pen and ink drawing, "Fortuna zonder voeten, staande op een bol", made around 1575-1580. The figure is really dynamic, perched precariously; it makes me a bit anxious. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, I love the anxious energy! It whispers of the Mannerist period, doesn't it? All that swirling fabric, the elongated form... Jan Snellinck really captures Fortune’s capriciousness. Notice how she balances, seemingly weightless, upon the orb. A dizzying thought… Our fates, dancing on a sphere. Ever considered life as one great balancing act, never knowing which way the scales might tip? Editor: Definitely! It's almost as if any minute she could fall off, because she doesn't have feet. What’s the symbolism behind her being without feet? Curator: That footlessness is key, isn’t it? Think of it this way: stability is the last thing you'd associate with Fortune. She is designed to move without warning. That unsettling lack of grounding underscores the fickleness of fate. Are we puppets, Editor, or choreographers of our own destinies? Or perhaps both, intertwined in a cosmic dance? Editor: Both maybe... It feels relevant even today! I never thought of a drawing from so long ago reflecting some current instability and volatility. Curator: Exactly! It's that echo through time that makes art so potent. What began as an artist's interpretation in ink centuries ago continues to spark a dialogue, a resonance in our present. Editor: I see what you mean; there is that continuous line throughout history! Curator: Precisely. Art's more than brushstrokes; it's the whispering wind between generations, isn't it?