Arcadisch landschap met Athene die een oude man kroont en Venus en Adonis 1747

Editor: We’re looking at "Arcadian Landscape with Athena Crowning an Old Man and Venus and Adonis," a 1747 watercolor and pencil drawing by Louis Fabritius Dubourg, at the Rijksmuseum. It's quite a scene – idyllic but also a little strange, don’t you think? I mean, what’s with the airborne cherubs? What do you make of it all? Curator: Ah, yes. It feels like stepping into a dream, doesn't it? Dubourg is painting a nostalgia for a lost golden age, a concept as old as time itself! Note how gently the watercolor washes evoke a hazy memory… The figures are meticulously rendered in pencil but placed almost haphazardly, suggesting that they are ghosts or emanations floating in the collective imagination. Who gets to decide what should live in the 'Arcadian ideal', I wonder? Editor: That's interesting, that the 'Arcadian ideal' is somehow up for debate. And I never really clocked it as being a hazy memory... What do you mean? Curator: Well, just look at it; observe the composition itself – it lacks the harsh lines and direct focus found in, say, a portrait. Instead, the piece uses soft transitions, the very essence of memory: a beautiful thing but always out of perfect focus. It’s a story we tell ourselves, one perhaps a little embellished? Venus and Adonis, the cherubs… are they integral to the tale, or added flourishes to impress the viewer? Perhaps Dubourg is gently suggesting that the stories we share are, themselves, living works of art... forever mutable? Editor: So it’s not just pretty; it’s making a point about how we tell stories? That makes me see it differently, kind of a proto-deconstruction. Thanks! Curator: Exactly. Next time, try focusing on a figure, any figure, and ask yourself 'Why are you HERE?' The painting will slowly reveal itself, like peeling back the layers of time, wouldn’t you agree?