A panther's back 

Curator: Before us we have "A panther's back," a red-chalk drawing by Johann Melchior Roos, held here at the Städel Museum. Editor: Raw power! It just leaps off the page, doesn't it? You can almost feel the weight and suppleness of the muscles beneath that spotted fur. The sketch-like quality gives it this immediate, visceral impact. Curator: Absolutely. The dynamism is remarkable. The baroque favored the use of animal symbolism to convey complex ideas about human nature. Strength, ferocity, and nobility – but also untamed passion, things society struggled to contain. It reminds one of the various roles of beasts in mythology and religion: as deities or the companions of gods. Editor: It’s interesting to consider the position; why do you think the artist focused so much on depicting it from the back? What sort of ideas do you think that presents? Curator: Presenting the animal from the rear hides the most emotive element - its eyes. As an iconographer, I interpret this decision as emphasizing raw power over the inner psyche of the beast. Editor: Hmm, you’ve got me thinking now – it could equally suggest the artist's awareness that the true nature of power is not to be looked in the eye but felt in its presence. Curator: Indeed, the angle conceals and thus accentuates the implicit sense of danger; this creature's readiness. But do you see that smudging, that subtle texturing within the strokes themselves? Roos isn’t just concerned with representation, he’s exploring how far he can push the medium. Editor: You’re so right! You just KNOW that Roos wasn't sitting there meticulously rendering every single hair! I get the sense he's capturing an essence – a raw, unfiltered impression. It's the feeling of wildness that comes across. The sketch shows he knows exactly what it looks like when it needs to pounce. Curator: Which really gets to the core of what the Baroque was all about. Such a dramatic capture. Editor: Exactly. There is something really amazing in that it feels really personal, too. It feels like we have had the pleasure of rifling through the artist's sketchbooks. I’d hang it up above my desk, in a heartbeat.