Pomegranate with Tendril 1500 - 1538

Editor: This is Albrecht Altdorfer's "Pomegranate with Tendril," made sometime between 1500 and 1538. It's an etching in ink. I'm struck by how much is packed into such a small space. What's your take? Curator: Ah, Altdorfer, he’s like a visual poet! I think this etching is a little world— a reminder that even something as seemingly simple as a fruit, a pomegranate, teems with life, with detail. And tendrils reaching... reaching for what? It's bursting forth in every direction. What feelings do you think the artists sought to invoke, beyond botanical curiosity? Editor: It's dynamic, certainly. It reminds me a bit of some of the decorative borders from illuminated manuscripts of the period. Almost architectural in its design. Curator: Exactly! Think of those swirling, ever-reaching vines in Gothic cathedrals, but shrunk down and made intensely personal. Altdorfer, bless his heart, seemed determined to find the sublime in the minuscule. Are you familiar with the Danube School's obsession with landscape and detail? Editor: Vaguely, it was the shift toward landscapes being important artworks. Is Altdorfer associated with that? Curator: Absolutely. He’s a central figure. This is less grand panorama and more a microscopic meditation, all contained within that tiny print. In his landscapes, the detail feels divinely inspired; what do you see reflected in his smaller scale work? Editor: I can definitely see that almost spiritual feeling in the obsessive details he's including in such a small picture plane. It makes the object feel…important. Not just some random doodle. Curator: Right, so by zeroing in on the smallest components of our known environment it allows you and I a glimpse of how they thought of the whole of nature. And that gives you something to take with you. That idea that grand themes are reflected even in small scale representations. Thanks for noticing, and reminding me of the power this small package packs.