Spandrel Decoration with Seated Allegorical Female Figures of Charity and Obedience n.d.

Editor: This is an intriguing sketch, titled "Spandrel Decoration with Seated Allegorical Female Figures of Charity and Obedience." We don't know the artist or the date. It's rendered in pencil, ink, and chalk on paper and presents an array of figures including women, children and cherubic faces seemingly floating on clouds. It feels like a flurry of gentle activity. What's your perspective on this piece? Curator: It whispers of a dream, doesn't it? Or perhaps the echoes of a half-remembered myth. What strikes me is the artist's evident fascination with drapery. Notice how the folds of the women's robes both reveal and conceal, suggesting movement even in stillness. Do you see how that play of light and shadow almost makes the figures breathe? The allegorical aspect really grabs me. Charity and obedience - weighty concepts, light as air on this page! Editor: I hadn't thought about the drapery in that way, but I see what you mean. It’s so fluid and graceful. The faces have unique expressiveness too, that conveys emotions and relationships. It also makes me think about a Renaissance Madonna surrounded by adoring children. Curator: Exactly! Think about where something like this might appear! High in a vaulted space as part of a much larger and overwhelming structure. It reminds you to find quiet moments of peace and virtue amidst the grand drama of faith and spectacle. Perhaps that's what draws me to it - a reminder to find the extraordinary within the ordinary. I also appreciate the unknown creator of this rendering. We can each bring ourselves into their work through the act of creative spectatorship. Editor: That’s a beautiful way to put it! I learned a lot about it! Curator: Likewise, I hadn’t fully appreciated how evocative such a simple drawing could be until now.