De Tuilerieën in Parijs 1770

Reinier Vinkeles captured the Tuileries Gardens in Paris with delicate strokes. Atop the Pavilion de l’entrée, a statue of Fame astride a horse immediately strikes the eye. Winged figures, like Fame, are ancient symbols of victory and transcendence, echoing the classical past and adapted in countless forms from antiquity to the Renaissance. Think of Nike of Samothrace, her wings spread in eternal triumph, or the angels that populate religious art. Here, the motif is secularized, an emblem of worldly power. The image, however, is always shifting. The power of this motif lies in our collective memory, a shared subconscious understanding that transcends time. Though Vinkeles may depict a Parisian garden, these images create cyclical progression. These symbols resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings.