Caritas met Fides en Spes c. 1593

Editor: This is Gerrit Pietersz’s drawing "Caritas met Fides en Spes," from around 1593. It's an ink and pencil sketch on toned paper and the composition feels heavenly with those radiant sun lines. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Well, the drawing presents us with Caritas, Fides, and Spes, the three theological virtues: charity, faith, and hope. How are they embodied here, do you think? And consider where they are placed? Editor: Charity seems to be the maternal figure at the center, holding children; Fides, if I’m correct, is near the sun beams with symbolic items, while Hope has the anchor. Is that correct? They appear in a bright airy upper space. Curator: Exactly. Consider that this work may speak to the hope for salvation and spiritual fulfillment prevalent in that era. Pietersz employed the established symbolic visual language to connect the viewers with a network of religious ideas and values through figuration. Now consider that. This visual short-hand communicates through shared cultural memory. Editor: So, the symbolism isn’t arbitrary. It's part of a bigger cultural vocabulary that viewers at the time were fluent in. It’s like a secret language now only partially revealed! Curator: Precisely. Recognizing that language enables us to retrieve the artist's message and cultural ideas from the work, placing us in dialogue with both present and past. It helps us comprehend how we perceive the legacy, history and evolution of these principles. Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way before - seeing art as part of cultural memory, connecting past and present! Thanks. Curator: Indeed. By decoding these symbols, the drawing can give modern eyes as much resonance and relevance as in Pietersz’s time.