Frontispiece Design for Edward Simson, Chronicon Catholicon c. 1729

Curator: Ah, I love how dramatic this is! We're looking at Jan Wandelaar's "Frontispiece Design for Edward Simson, Chronicon Catholicon," dating from around 1729. It's a drawing, ink and pencil on paper, held here at the Rijksmuseum. What catches your eye first? Editor: Definitely the swirling energy and theatrical flair, it feels very Baroque in its intensity. So much is happening – a portrait ringed by cherubs at the top, figures looming out of shadows... It's like a historical fever dream. Curator: Exactly! It's an allegory. You've got Time wielding a scythe, about to destroy the writings of mortals as Truth, in all her... uh... glory... emerges with the light of divine wisdom. A seated historian feverishly records events while all around him are emblems of mortality and transient human achievements. Editor: So Edward Simson was clearly shooting for some gravitas with this frontispiece. A bit heavy-handed, maybe? Although I suppose subtlety wasn't exactly in vogue then. Curator: Well, remember, this image prefaces Simson's work—a weighty chronicle, meant to stand the test of time. Wandelaar cleverly uses visual symbolism to underscore those ambitions. Editor: The symbolism! The portrait floating aloft—a kind of authorial benediction, as if history itself is being sanctioned from above. All those classical references blend pagan and Christian. Curator: Wandelaar does weave those traditions together. See how the classical allegorical figures mingle with the Christian cherubs? History as both a sacred and secular undertaking. But all those figures also overwhelm; it’s about the impossibility of capturing History. A very touching human desire doomed to imperfection. Editor: You are right. Looking at it now, I can't shake the sense of fleeting human efforts facing some indifferent force of Time and cosmic erasure. It does become strangely compelling, almost like a memento mori disguised as grand pronouncements. Curator: Yes, Wandelaar captured the fleeting nature of all history as well as an evocative rendering of baroque ideology. I'll always appreciate that complexity in tension.