Zondvloed, omringd door uiteenlopende voorstellingen 1784

Curator: Johann David (I) Schleuen created this piece, "Zondvloed, omringd door uiteenlopende voorstellingen," in 1784. It's a print, using etching and engraving techniques. What’s your immediate reaction? Editor: The overall composition strikes me as remarkably... busy. There's almost a storyboard quality to it. The level of detail within each framed vignette, rendered through etching and engraving, feels almost frantic given the grand theme. Curator: Exactly. The ‘Flood’, or “Zondvloed,” is surrounded by disparate scenes. It functions almost as a meditation on destruction, framed through both biblical narrative and scenes of everyday labour. The individual vignettes pull at different historical and social contexts, hinting at a psychological landscape. Editor: It makes me consider the material conditions of production here, not just the image depicted. Etching and engraving are painstaking. How does that labor translate into this depiction of overwhelming catastrophe? I wonder about the social context of printmaking at the time—was this a common way to circulate apocalyptic imagery? Curator: Certainly. Prints were, then as now, a potent vehicle for disseminating ideas and narratives. But I think here the imagery suggests a deeper anxiety, the psychological weight of facing catastrophic events. Notice the figure seemingly taking measurements. What might that suggest? Editor: The measuring figure...Perhaps an early attempt at quantifying, at controlling forces that ultimately prove uncontrollable. Thinking about the raw materials themselves – the metal plates, the inks – the permanence of printmaking contrasts starkly with the ephemerality of the moment this piece is describing. It's an intriguing tension. Curator: Absolutely, there is the notion of control and, on the other hand, the notion of chaos and losing control. The ark seems almost incidental amid a multitude of earthly scenes of disaster. A final thought...how does this cultural memory find resonance within us today? Editor: The imagery of displacement, loss, and futile human action against a destructive force... sadly, it's eternally relevant. Examining the process reminds us art-making is a job with skills acquired in time, like other means of labor that it reflects. It’s a potent image indeed.