Bird Flying Over the Desert c. 17th century

Curator: Jacques Callot's "Bird Flying Over the Desert," a small etching, presents a rather desolate scene. It's housed at the Harvard Art Museums. What strikes you first? Editor: A lonely freedom. It feels vast and empty, yet that bird against the sky...it's hopeful, somehow. Is this a depiction of real world? Curator: Callot was a master printmaker; this is his landscape. The etching's lines, consider their production, they are defining the relationship between human artifice and the natural world, right? Editor: Absolutely. It's like he's searching for something. Or running from it. That stark tree to the left... it's almost a character in itself. Curator: The tree and its situation in the frame suggests this is a landscape of the mind, where the etching needle scratches at the surface, revealing ideas about place and being. Editor: Maybe. Or it's just a pretty bird looking for a drink! Anyway, I'm glad Callot took the time to see and share it with us. Curator: So glad that we can continue to examine and consider such beauty in our own spaces.