Kakkasenius 1796 - 1802

Curator: M.W. Schmith’s engraving, “Kakkasenius,” from around 1800, presents a rather curious character study. What's your initial take on it? Editor: There's a somber quality, almost like peering into a 18th-century waiting room where anxieties hang heavy in the air. It looks as if this gentleman is in desperate need of a solution. Curator: Yes, Schmith offers us this figure with furrowed brow. A learned man, perhaps a physician, amidst his tools, all captured through precise linework, very much a product of its academic-art context. How do you feel that historical environment impacts our reading of this work? Editor: Well, the clear, almost clinical lines definitely give it a sense of order. There's something about this formal restraint, though, that magnifies the feeling of interiority, that we are observing this intellectual in the middle of an emotional process. The arrangement of the objects seems almost staged. Curator: Stage presence, you feel? The arrangement, the table adorned with implements, almost lends the scene to a play. In 18th century genre painting, everyday scenes were ripe for allegorical and social commentary. Does this fall into that, for you? Editor: Definitely. The etching reads as part genre-scene and part social commentary, especially given the title. Is there a way the name itself points to social status, pointing towards this character? Curator: Absolutely. The name is most certainly pointing out the perceived status or nature of the portrayed individual, I imagine rather poking fun at this gentleman. Editor: It’s striking how effectively Schmith conveyed a specific mood here through a limited palette and spare style. As the man thinks deeply in front of his medicines, what kind of emotion might someone at the time be struck by in their observation? Curator: Considering the context, it's like he wants you to sit with the anxieties of progress. The era of Enlightenment wasn't all gleaming reason and innovation; it had its discontents and skepticisms, too, perhaps this work reflects just that. Editor: It is remarkable to consider the context that something so rooted in that specific moment in time can provoke so much resonance. Curator: Indeed. Perhaps, through works like "Kakkasenius," the concerns and complexities of human thought continue to echo down the centuries.