Ezel beladen met twee ganzen en huisraad 1642 - 1669

Curator: The detail in this engraving, “Ezel beladen met twee ganzen en huisraad,” or “Donkey Laden with Two Geese and Household Goods,” attributed to Jan Baptist de Wael and dating from 1642 to 1669, is quite striking. Editor: It's bustling, almost chaotic. The textures jump out—the coarse hair of the animals, the smooth gourds… it's quite evocative for a small print. Curator: Absolutely. Look at how de Wael employs engraving— a printmaking technique that necessitates manual labor, patience and skill. Consider the consumption of prints at the time, accessible, reproducible and able to disseminate images and information widely. Editor: I see a definite compositional hierarchy despite the busyness. The eye is led from the donkey in the center, weighed down by geese and supplies, towards the figures trailing behind. The line work varies wonderfully to suggest volume and texture, too. The engraver has great control here. Curator: It speaks to the social context, wouldn't you agree? It makes you consider those itinerant vendors of the time, their whole lives carried upon their backs—the exploitation and the hardship… Editor: Or, viewed differently, a formal study in weight and balance. See how the artist uses diagonals to create tension, contrasted with the solid vertical forms? The narrative content becomes secondary to the masterful deployment of formal techniques. Curator: Still, that central figure of the laden donkey… there’s a clear symbolic burden there. Think about those lower classes who fueled the commerce of the time! Editor: True, but the geese lend it a surreal quality, wouldn't you say? Perched almost heroically, their wings create this sense of ascending beyond the earthy struggle you describe. It disrupts any straightforward, workaday reading. Curator: Maybe we are both seeing something true. Considering this work it's crucial to look past merely aesthetic questions of technique and composition towards deeper questions of value. Editor: And yet, in focusing solely on those socio-economic conditions, we risk overlooking the intrinsic, almost sublime, visual poetics at play.