Liggend schaap met vliegen 1790 - 1797

Curator: Well, look at this; M. Brakel’s “Liggend schaap met vliegen”, a drawing made between 1790 and 1797 using pencil and ink. Immediately I notice that while pastoral, it also manages to evoke such melancholy, even… decay. Editor: It's the flies, isn't it? A dark comedy perhaps? The artist hasn't romanticized rural life but portrayed this animal in quite a humble fashion. What can you tell me about Brakel's working method, or his influences? Curator: There's something inherently symbolic in the depiction, sheep being connected with Christian and pastoral allegories. But you’re right, it's the stark realism combined with those hovering flies that casts a different, rather unsettling light on those traditions. I can't help but imagine that a meditation on life cycles and their connection with death underlies the work. Editor: The material itself adds to that reading. The paper, the ink...it all feels so immediate and accessible, there is no attempt to prettify an animal reduced to simply existing, an object of daily labour. But it’s very skilled labour. Curator: Exactly, consider the insect motif - how frequently does a symbol of corruption actually underscore deeper wisdom? It's about mortality but perhaps more so about an acceptance of life’s less attractive facets. In a world steeped in genre painting and idealistic landscape views, this almost documentary realism carries some shock, maybe even critique. Editor: I agree, this image disrupts the status quo. It’s challenging viewers' expectations of art to look past surfaces and toward the realities beneath the idyllic exterior. Curator: It provides a different context, I see what you mean. A visual reminder to consider all of life – beauty and corruption intermingling. The picture resonates due to its lack of any moral statement. Just is, period. Editor: Definitely. A powerful statement indeed from what looks at first like such a humble material beginning.