Scheepsjongen op een dolfijn 1772 - 1773

Editor: Here we have Antoine Alexandre Joseph Cardon’s “Scheepsjongen op een dolfijn” or “Ship's Boy on a Dolphin”, from around 1772-1773. It’s a pen drawing on paper from a sketchbook. I find its simplicity charming, and it reminds me of illustrations in old storybooks. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Ah, yes, a charming fragment of a world long gone. The Rococo period had this peculiar habit of playing with innocence, didn’t it? It’s a bittersweet innocence though, don’t you think? The boy perched on a dolphin, perhaps a fountain, embodies that. What do you make of the medium? It being a pen sketch within a sketchbook rather than, say, a formal oil painting? Editor: I think the medium makes it feel more intimate and immediate, like we're glimpsing the artist's private thoughts. It is less posed. The drawing captures a fleeting moment, whereas painting may have felt less playful? Curator: Exactly! And doesn’t it make you wonder about Cardon himself? What tales did he spin in his head as he sketched this? Perhaps he imagined the boy as a modern-day Cupid, riding not an eagle but a fish into mischievous adventures? It also reminds me of those fleeting, sun-drenched afternoons of childhood when the world feels like pure imagination. What will you take with you when you think about it again? Editor: I agree, that Cardon used playfulness to encourage us to dream about impossible journeys, riding our own fantastical creatures, and it feels special to glimpse it on aged paper! Curator: A journey on a dolphin crafted by pen strokes across time itself! Indeed.