Veerman Charon 1804

Curator: This is Luigi Sabatelli’s “Veerman Charon,” an intaglio print executed in 1804, depicting a scene from classical mythology. Editor: It’s certainly dramatic. The skeletal figures reaching out evoke a sense of desperation and terror, all rendered in precise detail with stark, unforgiving lines. Curator: Indeed. As an intaglio print, its production required significant skill and labor. An image would have been incised into a metal plate, which was then inked and pressed onto paper, allowing for multiples. The uniformity suggests the rising industrial means of image dissemination. Editor: And Charon himself – so much muscularity, emphasized with precise anatomical draftsmanship, contrasting with the wraith-like figures he's ferrying. His image speaks of a powerful intermediary, bridging life and death. The faces of the damned swirling in the sky recall divine judgment. Curator: Precisely. It’s fascinating to consider this work in the context of Neoclassicism. There is this return to classical subjects, rendered with an emphasis on line and form over color but also with the nascent romantic focus on the extreme passions. Editor: The image does capture that turmoil – both inner and outer. The snakes and skulls below the boat really amp up the symbolism, reminding us of mortality and what awaits in the underworld. Curator: Absolutely. The linear quality typical of prints can give this particular subject matter—transition and judgment, the concrete, permanent form—making for an uneasy combination of permanence and the ethereal. The materiality enhances the effect. Editor: Ultimately, it is in those contrasts, material and symbolic, where we find the image’s lasting impact: A rendering of mythological trauma expressed through the cold, clean lines of its medium. Curator: A compelling confluence of the modern means of making art and perennial concerns.