Vases c. 17th century

In this etching by Stefano della Bella, dating back to the 17th century, we find a series of vases, each brimming with symbolic potential. Notice the cherubic figures adorning several of these vessels. These are not mere decorations. They are echoes of ancient Roman art, where cherubs symbolized love, protection, and divine favor. Here, they bridge the classical past with the Baroque present. Even the vases themselves, forms that recur across millennia, remind us of the human impulse to contain and elevate the beauty of nature. Consider the enduring image of the vessel. From the amphorae of ancient Greece to the Renaissance fountains, it reappears, carrying different meanings. Vessels are metaphors of the human body, the womb, a source of life. These vessels invite us to contemplate the cycles of death and rebirth, the flow of culture, and the powerful, subconscious currents that shape our visual world.