Grotesk ornament met Apollo op zijn zonnewagen in het midden 1624 - 1679

Curator: This piece, housed here at the Rijksmuseum, is a rather fascinating Baroque ornament. We attribute this “Grotesk ornament met Apollo op zijn zonnewagen in het midden,” to an anonymous artist working sometime between 1624 and 1679. What strikes you about it? Editor: Oh, it’s instantly transporting. All those whirling tendrils and fierce, stylized figures…it feels like stumbling upon some forgotten alchemical illustration or a strange heraldic device. It exudes a kind of manic energy that keeps your eye moving. Curator: Absolutely. Baroque ornament loves excess. But notice how contained it all is. The central panel showing Apollo's chariot is a moment of calm rationality framed by a riot of… well, what exactly are those fantastical beasts? Editor: They're part chimera, part fever dream. Lion bodies, serpentine necks, human masks… Classic grotesque elements playing with the monstrous and the beautiful. Think about what these motifs represent: hidden, darker aspects of the psyche coming into visibility, half-formed. Curator: I see it. Like surfacing anxieties visualized. And the image of Apollo—representing reason, light, order—is set right in the middle like a beacon. The message seems to be that even with chaos swirling, clarity can prevail. Or at least be aimed for. Editor: It makes me wonder, what are we meant to do with all these grotesque figures and swirling details? It is almost as if these Baroque designers were looking at ways to capture our minds to another level of consciousness and visual complexity? The frame isn’t just decorative, it's part of the psychic work, holding the opposites in tension. Curator: I think you’re on to something. The meticulousness of the engraving, the sheer detail crammed into a relatively small space – it almost dares you to unravel it, to find meaning, to participate in the artist’s imagination. Even across the centuries. Editor: Exactly! And there’s such humor in the grotesqueries. That is a dark, quirky humor, but I am convinced the artist did it all on purpose. I’m left with the impression of something powerful lurking just behind the surface of the visible world. A truly haunting image. Curator: Indeed, and as a final thought, perhaps, our anonymous artist crafted a pocket universe of symbols here, urging us to wrestle with our inner contradictions. And that struggle, that striving, is where the real art lives.