Goden vergaderen over de Trojaanse oorlog 1710

Editor: This is “Gods Meeting About the Trojan War,” an engraving from 1710 by Bernard Picart, held at the Rijksmuseum. I'm struck by the sheer density of figures and detail in this little print. It feels almost overwhelming, like trying to decipher a dream. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Overwhelming is the word! Picart crams so much in there – heaven, earth, sea, war, peace all at once. To me, it’s a visual representation of chaos and indecision. Look at Jupiter, smack-dab in the center but aloof, while below him, it's all tents, ships, and Minerve ready to rumble. Do you get the feeling nobody is quite listening to each other? Editor: Definitely. It feels like a bunch of conflicting agendas battling it out. The gods look rather dramatic. Curator: Aren’t they always? Remember this is the baroque period, and the theatricality of it all. Every god and goddess with their own specific symbolic accoutrements! Do you recognize any of them? And ponder what this artist wants us to understand about those stories, that moment in time, the ever fascinating tensions of gods and mortals caught in war… It’s all here, in this little pressure cooker. Editor: I see the dove for Venus! And Mars, I think, in the tents, right? It is fascinating to see so much of this complex myth distilled into a single image. I am especially intrigued how those familiar figures shape how the narrative might or might not make sense. Curator: Right. Now consider how all this pomp and circumstance boils down to… a story. Humans fighting. Gods arguing. And the whole shebang fits in the palm of your hand. Intriguing, right?