Staande vrouw met vaas in de handen, van voren gezien c. 1700 - 1725

Editor: This is "Standing Woman with Vase in Her Hands, Seen from the Front," a baroque-style engraving by Jacobus Harrewijn from around 1700-1725, now residing in the Rijksmuseum. The woman, so elegantly draped, cradling what seems like a precious urn… There’s a formality, but also an undeniable grace. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, there's definitely a story whispering from those lines. For me, it’s less about stiff formality and more about captured transience. Notice how Harrewijn contrasts the woman’s soft, flowing robes with the rigidly lined trees in the background? It's almost as if she’s a fleeting vision in a meticulously ordered world. Does it strike you that her gaze is fixed on something we can’t see? Editor: It does now that you mention it! Is that why the landscape behind her is also framed? Curator: Precisely! It creates this layered sense of reality, a world within a world. The vase, though— what do you make of that? It's so ornately rendered, it feels weighty, significant, almost… symbolic? Editor: Maybe it’s symbolic of something precious that she's holding? Or maybe a burden? I'm curious though, do you ever feel like engravings are often overlooked compared to paintings or sculptures? Curator: They certainly can be, but think of the dedication, the precision involved in each line! Each stroke is a testament to the artist’s vision. We get so caught up in the grandeur of oil on canvas that we miss the subtle poetry in the etched line. But, these smaller pieces had tremendous power when disseminated across the world as prints! This was truly the Instagram of its time. Editor: That’s a really refreshing way of looking at it! I guess I’ll pay more attention to those etched lines now! Thanks for opening my eyes (and mind) to the importance of this piece. Curator: And thank you for being so perceptive, It has made me rethink how I will look at these treasures moving forward.