Illustratie voor de Decamerone van Boccaccio 1697

Curator: Here we have an engraving by Romeyn de Hooghe dating to 1697 titled, "Illustration for Boccaccio's Decameron." Editor: It’s striking, isn’t it? A tight composition filled with baroque exuberance, yet rendered in these precise, almost delicate lines. It gives it an energy and refinement. Curator: The subject derives, as the title suggests, from the "Decameron" of Boccaccio, a collection of novellas. De Hooghe was well known for such illustrative work, placing this print in a broader tradition of art acting as a mirror to literature and social mores. Editor: Note how De Hooghe's deployment of hatching and cross-hatching defines form, creates shading, and adds to a sense of depth within the very limited pictorial space. His attention to fabric and the articulation of the human body is especially good, and is worth pausing for. Curator: Indeed. These prints, due to their transportability, had the power to disseminate narratives and, crucially, certain social values or messages to a much wider public. The figures engaged in acts of either giving or stealing serve as visual signifiers open to broader interpretations. Editor: I agree that the open interpretations make this print engaging; the relationship between characters, rendered through facial expression and posture, and set against that landscape adds so much implied meaning. Look how light the figures become closer to the background. The buildings too: note the one far away being turned by the light into what can only be described as a celestial orb. Curator: Certainly, and we must remember the "Decameron" itself offered a reflection on society, often critical and satirical, thus adding a layer of subversive interpretation here, in De Hooghe's representation. Editor: The piece as a whole has taught me, through your reading, about how historical context can shape one's engagement with what at first appears simply a striking scene. It allows one to better grasp both artistic intention and social implications. Curator: And hopefully, your formal reading enhances one's aesthetic enjoyment by underlining its artifice and construction as an image. Together, these ways of seeing deepen our overall appreciation, I believe.