Storm in the Moonlight 1771

Editor: This is "Storm in the Moonlight" by Jean Jacques Flipart. The image is incredibly dramatic, with this small ship battling huge waves. What does it say about power and vulnerability in the 18th century? Curator: It speaks volumes. Look at the figures on the shore – are they rescuers or simply observers of potential disaster? The moonlight, often romanticized, here illuminates precarity. Consider also the Enlightenment’s focus on both taming nature and its simultaneous helplessness in the face of its power. Editor: So, the "storm" is not only the subject of the image, but also a sign of the times? Curator: Exactly. It is a visual metaphor for the political and social upheavals brewing beneath the surface of the so-called Age of Reason. The print hints at the anxieties of a world on the brink of change. Editor: I never considered it that way before. It’s much more than just a storm at sea. Curator: Precisely, and that’s the point.