Fries before 1732

Curator: Immediately I notice the repeating elements, this feels industrial somehow... but also intensely skilled. Editor: This detailed pen drawing and engraving, known as "Fries," dates from before 1732. We don't know who created it, but it currently resides here in the Rijksmuseum. It's striking, isn't it? Like two intricate friezes stacked one on top of the other. Curator: Frieze is definitely the word for it. Classical friezes, mind you. The human figures...they look trapped, maybe even performing labour in those leafy embellishments? The figures remind me of caryatids! All those shoulders to carry burdens, I tell ya... Editor: Yes, the influence of antiquity is palpable, but so is the virtuosity of the engraver’s line. Look at the texture he creates, solely with marks. Consider the time and skill needed for such precisely rendered leaves, for those figures… what would they be like on, say, an actual building? How would those decisions get made? Curator: It is almost aggressively ornate! But look at how the blank space both contains and enhances the figures; it suggests a hidden depth. And then, the figures themselves! Mythological heroes forever dashing within these confines. Are they trying to break free from these luscious borders, these frames of reference? Are we? Editor: That tension is definitely at play. This piece asks us to look at what art literally holds up in a culture and the role of ornament within social hierarchies. Who labored, and who benefited from the availability of art forms like these? Curator: Absolutely. Makes you think about the artist. The skill involved is almost breathtaking. The person wielding that pen must have had an absolute conviction, don't you think? Such assurance isn't made overnight. Maybe that certainty is what draws me in the most. Editor: Indeed. When we peel back the layers of history and craft, it makes you wonder about those unknown hands, meticulously translating their vision into a material reality. A timeless process, wouldn’t you say?