"Fornøjelsers forstørrelse" 1787

This small engraving, "Fornøjelsers forstørrelse" or "The увеличение of Pleasures", lives within the collection of the SMK, Denmark’s National Gallery. Its anonymous creation speaks volumes about authorship and artistic production in earlier eras. In this scene, we see a satyr amidst a wooded landscape, an image steeped in classical mythology. Historically, satyrs represented untamed aspects of human nature and were often associated with revelry, intoxication, and the blurring of human-animal boundaries. What does it mean to invoke such imagery? The "pleasures" alluded to in the title hint at the body, and the senses. It seems like the picture encourages us to explore the tensions between instinct and intellect, between the wild and the cultivated. The engraving prompts us to reflect on the relationship between desire, identity, and the historical contexts that shape our understanding of pleasure.