Kat in het raamkozijn 1647 - 1674

Jan van Ossenbeeck's etching captures a cat curled in a window frame. Here, the window, more than just a structural element, is a profound symbol. Throughout art history, the window motif represents an opening between inner and outer worlds, a threshold between the domestic and the unknown. This echoes the ancient Roman concept of the 'fenestra mortis', the death window, through which spirits were believed to pass. Yet, here, life bursts through the window with sprouting vines. Notice how the cat, a creature often associated with the liminal spaces, embodies a similar duality. In ancient Egypt, cats were revered, embodying both domesticity and wild independence. Similarly, Ossenbeeck's cat rests passively, but its watchful presence hints at an untamed spirit, a creature of the night. The window and the cat, together, engage our subconscious, stirring primal memories and existential questions about our place between worlds. This cyclical journey through symbols is not linear but a continuous resurgence, mirroring the ever-changing yet eternally present cat by the window.