Wapenschild van de familie Wuytiers 1660 - 1672

Curator: Looking at this old drawing, there's something both incredibly regal and almost fragile about it. Editor: Indeed! This watercolor rendering, created between 1660 and 1672 by Pieter Jansz., presents the “Wapenschild van de familie Wuytiers,” or the coat of arms for the Wuytiers family. These heraldic emblems were, and in some ways still are, tools of power, claiming lineage, legitimacy, and dominance. Curator: I love how the colors are faded, as if time itself has softened their declaration. It gives it a wistful, romantic air. All those curling leaves...it's trying awfully hard to look powerful, but I find it kind of vulnerable instead. Like a memory. Editor: That tension you perceive speaks volumes, I think. These family crests performed vital social functions. While it can look decorative today, the artist meticulously rendered the crest's symbolic components – fleurs-de-lis, a lion, and those distinctive vertical bands – because those communicated status in a visual language understood by elites. Think about who got to be remembered, and who was intentionally forgotten. Curator: Right! But look how whimsical those little drawings are! Did that snarling lion really seem scary? I want to pat his fuzzy mane. Maybe power is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps to make a family lineage appear legitimate through an image requires embracing theatricality? It reminds me of costuming or theater! Editor: In a sense, it absolutely was a theatrical performance of power! It visually asserted this family's place within a rigid social hierarchy, influencing perceptions and dictating power dynamics of that era. I'm struck by the contrast between the ostentatious visual claims, like the crest, and the very material on which those are depicted. We might be looking at aged paper but let us be reminded of its humble origins, a once living plant. Curator: Well, I am charmed. I'll think twice now about the stories told through even seemingly simple pictures. Perhaps history is a fairytale with just a touch of factual documentation. Editor: Perhaps art reminds us that any grand narrative requires scrutiny! And what remains fascinating is what continues to resonate centuries later.