Vers voor prinses Wilhelmina bij de veertigste verjaardag van prins Willem V, 1788 Possibly 1788

Editor: This drawing from 1788 is by Maria Margaretha la Fargue, titled "Verse for Princess Wilhelmina on the Fortieth Birthday of Prince Willem V." It's done in ink and watercolor, with a flurry of details and symbols. It has a really formal feel to it, almost like an official proclamation. How do you read this work? Curator: It does feel like a visual declaration, doesn't it? What grabs me is how Maria Margaretha la Fargue combines such rigid symbolism with an undeniably playful, almost dreamlike quality. Look at the allegorical figures, "Amor Patriae" and "Amor Dei", flanking a cartouche filled with meticulously inscribed text! And above, a trumpeting angel amid radiant light. Do you see how she mingles celebration with solemnity, turning it into something quite personal? Editor: Yes, there's definitely a tension between the formal elements and the almost naive quality of the execution. The watercolor bleed, for example, softens those firm lines. And those family crests look rather…stuck on! Curator: Precisely! It's as if she’s both honoring the established order *and* hinting at its artifice. The text, that's where the real juice is! La Fargue was from a literary family and that really shines through. That celebratory verse would have been quite the spectacle, like performance art on paper. What do you make of the use of text here? Editor: I hadn't thought of it like that! But now that you mention it, I see how the script and those decorations perform almost like actors on a stage. It’s more layered and human than I initially perceived. Curator: Exactly. Art of this era often got bogged down in conventions. But la Fargue... she kind of whispers in its ear, "Let’s loosen the corset a little, shall we?" I appreciate her spunk! It definitely enlivens what could've been a pretty stuffy birthday verse!