Bontwerker in een cartouche met fruit 1640

Curator: A book print – isn't it wonderfully unassuming? Editor: This is "Bontwerker in een cartouche met fruit," or "Fur Worker in a cartouche with fruit", an engraving by Cornelis Galle I from 1640, at the Rijksmuseum. It's got this fascinating combination of the grotesque and the elegant. What first strikes you about this particular print? Curator: The dance between text and image, that's what grabs me first. See how the image nestles within the printed page, almost as if the story leaps out to greet you? There’s this layered feeling to it, don’t you think? Like peeling back years of whispers and secrets… the very *idea* of 'image' in that time! Editor: Yes! The cartouche does frame the fur worker beautifully. But the Latin text... is that part of the art for you? Curator: Oh, absolutely! It’s an invitation to dig deeper. The artist invites us to not merely *look*, but to translate, interpret, *feel* the weight of those words alongside the visual. Notice how the image doesn't simply illustrate the text. The Baroque *loved* that tension: they both contribute meaning and push back at each other. And the fruit – those fleshy forms bursting around the border – what do *they* tell us about excess? Editor: So it's about the total package, the visual and the intellectual together? I was focused on just the engraved image of the fur worker initially. Curator: Indeed! That’s the beauty of older prints like this one: it makes you slow down, reconsider the way you see and read, which opens unexpected insights. And what new doors will this newfound perspective lead to next? Editor: Exactly, thank you so much. That changes everything for me; the way they worked together… wow.