Ceiling 1600 - 1700

Editor: Here we have "Ceiling," an ink and paper drawing, potentially a print, dating from the 17th century, currently held at the Met. There’s a distinct visual hierarchy going on, a celestial scene framed by what looks like vignettes of mythological stories. How do you interpret this work, given its intended location, a ceiling? Curator: That's a great point. The positioning is key. Think about who would have been looking up at this ceiling, and what power dynamics were at play. Seventeenth-century ceilings were often statements of authority, divine right, patriarchal power. This Baroque style, with its allegory and figuration, works to naturalize these hierarchies. Do you notice anything about the figures themselves, how they're positioned in relation to the light source? Editor: Well, the figures in the central panel, presumably the most important, are bathed in the most light, seeming to come from the heavens, further emphasizing their elevated status. But the vignettes, in comparison, appear much darker, subdued in their execution and tone. Curator: Exactly! The strategic deployment of light isn't merely aesthetic. It's reinforcing a worldview where power and divinity are intrinsically linked. We need to ask: who benefits from this visual language? Who is being excluded or marginalized by this carefully constructed 'heavenly' scene? It invites reflection on the contemporary structures, ideologies and inequalities mirrored by artworks throughout time. Editor: I hadn't considered the drawing as actively perpetuating a system, more like passively reflecting its values. That shifts my understanding completely. Curator: It’s through recognizing that agency, that visual culture, is constructed rather than reflecting our societies and ideologies; thus, we begin to decode it, and therefore hopefully challenge or alter contemporary and persistent inequalities. Editor: Thinking about it that way really opened up the meaning for me. Thanks.