Noah's Ark 

Curator: Oh, this print! It's positively teeming with life! Like a Renaissance tapestry rendered in miniature. Editor: It almost feels chaotic. All these animals jammed together, eager to disembark, their features are so anxious. Curator: It’s "Noah's Ark," likely created by Pierre II Woeiriot de Bouzey. This is an engraving. Editor: An engraving. Right, you can really see the line work. There's a precision here that contradicts that initial sense of overflowing abundance. Did Pierre work on coins usually? This has got to be based on somebody else’s artwork because there are rhinos and there’s what seems to be a moose up there but most noticeably it feels like a weird Renaissance parade. Curator: Engraving flourished precisely because it allowed for wide dissemination of imagery. Consider the symbolic importance of animals – throughout the Medieval period they signified moral lessons. You find bestiaries brimming with allegorical interpretations that audiences would recognize instantly. Noah, his family, these creatures… it all serves as a reminder of both divine wrath and divine grace. Editor: Yes, this engraving visualizes the rainbow covenant from Genesis when God made an agreement with all creatures never to flood the Earth again after he regretted creating man on it because it vexed him in his heart. I imagine medieval people found hope in the line of salvation represented here in Noah and his family. A bearded muscular Noah seems anachronistic, like one of Michelangelo's giants or something, he doesn't resemble God's perfectly obedient but old shipbuilder. Curator: Woeiriot places emphasis on linearity of forms but at the same time the tonal richness suggests his familiarity with contemporary painting too. The entire scene is carefully designed in stages to achieve narrative effect. There are also subtle iconographic gestures that reinforce these ideas. Note the birds perched above. What do you make of it? Editor: They almost look decorative… little afterthoughts placed around the sky. Is he saying life’s exuberance fills even the void after disaster? Still, if all the species crammed in there reproduced unchecked, I hope those folks had a lot of boats! Curator: It is indeed a lot to take in. We tend to imagine simple depictions of Bible stories, but works such as this show you the world of symbolic language to engage audiences during these times. Editor: Well, it certainly provides an all-inclusive perspective, doesn't it? A dizzying array, a world condensed within this little engraving… quite striking.