Allegorie op de dood 1629 - 1669

Editor: This is Florens Schuyl’s "Allegorie op de dood," created sometime between 1629 and 1669, and made with engraving. It strikes me as incredibly stark – the skeletal figure dominating the composition, juxtaposed with that helpless baby. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see an examination of the very process of existence, rendered through labor. Engraving itself is a meticulous process of removal, mirroring the gradual erosion of life. Schuyl’s choice of engraving emphasizes the material reality of image-making; each line a deliberate act of carving. Look at how the skeletal figure, a traditional symbol of death, is almost industrial in its rendering. Notice the detail in the bones. What does that level of detail suggest to you? Editor: It feels…clinical? Almost as if we're looking at an anatomical study rather than just a symbolic representation. Curator: Precisely. And in its time, that kind of precise labor would have had significance. Think about the rise of craft and specialized labor during the period in which it was made. Isn’t death the ultimate form of labor to that new baby on the ground? Even in the distance, there appear to be other laborers in the graveyard between a building and that new baby on the ground. Editor: I hadn’t considered the engraving medium as intrinsically linked to the message before. It changes my perception, it focuses more on the craft. It makes the process almost as important as the symbolism. Curator: Exactly. By foregrounding the means of production, Schuyl blurs the lines between “high” art and craft. Where can one draw the line between devotional object and simply something of labor? Editor: I learned how much the material and the mode of production shapes the understanding of an image. Curator: Yes, we begin to recognize how artistic decisions impact its meaning in society.