Eeuwfeest van de Hogeschool te Utrecht, penning vereerd aan de colleges van de Staten, stad, hof en predikanten 1736

Editor: So, here we have "Eeuwfeest van de Hogeschool te Utrecht," a medal crafted by Johannes Drappentier in 1736 to commemorate the centennial of the Utrecht school. It's metalwork, so cool and weighty, but look at those Baroque flourishes! I'm curious, what particularly stands out to you in a piece like this? Curator: Ah, these medals! They're like tiny history books rendered in miniature. The density of symbolism! On one side, you have figures representing knowledge and liberty, bathed, appropriately, in baroque light. The other side seems almost… bureaucratic, doesn't it? Editor: Bureaucratic? In what sense? Curator: The Latin inscription. The self-important pronouncements. The dedication to senators and curators…it speaks to the institutions, the establishment that this school embodies. A marriage of enlightenment ideals with good old-fashioned power structures. Does the goddess of justice strike you as illuminated or…smug? Editor: A little of both, perhaps? It’s a very self-assured justice, isn't it? I guess that tension, that push-and-pull between progress and tradition, is really fascinating. I wonder how Drappentier felt about the whole affair? Curator: Now you're getting to the heart of it! That’s the thing about art, especially something like this, intended as an official monument, it’s never just one thing. Editor: Well, I certainly see it differently now! A lot to think about in something so small. Curator: Exactly! Every tiny detail a universe of possibilities, and every viewing, a new perspective.