Pauw 1748

Curator: This is an engraving from 1748 entitled "Pauw." Editor: Striking. Even at this small scale, there's such textural density in the bird's plumage. The contrast between dark, heavily worked areas and the plain, untouched paper is quite dramatic. Curator: The artist uses the peacock not merely as a symbol of vanity, but as a commentary. The accompanying text in Dutch suggests that the image of the peacock symbolizes those in power. This piece hints at a fleeting quality to the self-importance they project. Editor: Absolutely. It's interesting to consider how the image was made—likely multiple stages of etching, maybe some hand tooling of the plate to achieve that range of tones. Prints like these weren’t viewed as "fine art" as we think of it today, but as a key component in books. The materials are modest: paper, ink, metal... mass producible for broad consumption. Curator: Indeed, prints such as this provided a way for allegories to take on new significance, to speak to social issues of the era. Think about the peacock’s longstanding association with immortality and rebirth. To use it in this way suggests not only pride, but also mortality. A rather harsh critique! Editor: Yes! The decision to depict a natural subject, here an ornate bird, combined with the repetitive, mechanical process of printing adds another layer. Nature is brought into the man-made sphere, a controlled and disseminated version of reality. How many people saw this engraving, handled it, internalized its message? Curator: It gives us pause to consider the complex social life of images across time. An icon with multiple, overlapping meanings made to reveal moral messages through this animal. Editor: Seeing how art and object are related, what their connection reveals: that's what captivates me here.