Geiten 1620 - 1664

Stefano della Bella etched "Geiten" – goats - in the 17th century, a humble subject infused with a rich symbolic heritage. The goat, a seemingly simple barnyard animal, carries echoes of antiquity. In the Dionysian revels of ancient Greece, the goat was linked to fertility, untamed nature, and the intoxicating power of transformation. This association persisted through the ages, often demonized in Christian iconography as a symbol of lust and the diabolical. Consider the image of Pan, the goat-legged god of the wild, whose primal energy courses through this very image, subtly undermining the pastoral calm. Even today, the goat retains a double-edged symbolism. It appears in the Tarot as the Devil, embodying instinct and material desires. The tension between the sacred and the profane, the innocent and the corrupt, is the image’s compelling power. It engages our subconscious, resonating with primal associations and fears. These archetypes are not linear; they resurface, evolving, and taking on new meanings across historical contexts, inviting viewers into a perpetual dance between past and present.