Sculptuur Eerste periode. Ontstaan van de hartstochten door Antoine Wiertz before 1868

This is Edmond Fierlants’ photograph of Antoine Wiertz’s sculpture, taken sometime in the mid-19th century. Fierlants, working in a newly industrialized Belgium, captured the sculpture titled “Sculpture First period. Origin of the Passions.” During this period, artists like Wiertz grappled with Romanticism, often depicting heightened emotion and drama. Here, we see bodies entwined, seemingly overcome by powerful emotions, a popular subject in art which has historically coded women as creatures of passion and men as creatures of reason. Wiertz’s sculpture and Fierlants’ photograph invite us to consider the societal expectations around gender and emotion in the 19th century. The image's title and the figures’ intense embrace suggest a narrative about the birth of intense feelings; it resonates with historical narratives, and the sculpture seems to represent an awakening or loss of innocence, and how these themes have been expressed through art.