Achtste plaag: sprinkhanen 1522

Curator: So, here we have "The Eighth Plague: Locusts." Created in 1522, it resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Immediately, it's this dance between order and chaos. See the way the hatching creates a kind of controlled frenzy? Curator: An astute observation. While we don't know the artist, the piece depicts the biblical plague, vividly. Editor: I love how the figures react, the gestures of fear. That one figure practically leaping away— pure anxiety rendered in ink. There's such emotional weight carried through those fine lines. Curator: Exactly. It encapsulates panic—a swarm is coming, look at the little blighters filling the sky. It is rendered with cross-hatching, adding depth, especially to the locusts. There are small symbolic ones scattered around. Editor: I notice that, and there’s something timeless, isn’t there, about swarms. They can be anything – fears, rumours, anxieties made visible. This fear made ink— that's something special to be hold within symbols of a sketch! Curator: And perhaps what is lasting, what’s kept this image circulating through centuries is just that primal dread that gets under the skin and sticks there. What do you think that this piece will inspire? Editor: It feels a little haunting, the more I sit with it. Maybe this will inspire artists, who have struggled for a while now with similar topics, and maybe give birth to some more of them? Or not, only the future holds this answer, however I see this artwork as amazing. Curator: The magic of art; it can become something of yours, regardless of how far back it came from, and can evoke deep connections for as long as people are still viewing it. Editor: Yes, truly a captivating little echo of human terror and resilience. A great work to get your gears moving about human experience.