Ydun 1827

Curator: Look at this preliminary sketch, made with pencil and engraving by J.L. Lund in 1827. The piece is entitled "Ydun" and it’s currently housed here at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. Editor: My first thought is it has a quiet, almost dreamlike quality to it. The sketch lines are so delicate. It feels less like a definitive statement and more like a whisper of an idea. Curator: Precisely. As an iconographer, you'll appreciate that Lund's rendering offers a window into how classical archetypes informed art of the period. Here we have Ydun, the Norse goddess associated with spring and eternal youth. Note the way she holds the apples. Editor: Yes, those golden apples. It’s hard to miss their significance, their link to immortality. Holding them gives off almost serene maternal quality. Do you notice how she looks so impassive even though she holds such power within her hands? Almost untouchable... Curator: True. Lund's "Ydun" speaks volumes about that desire to hold onto the beauty of a bygone classical age. Editor: It is more than longing, though; the piece, I think, considers a deeper symbolism—an eternal hope intertwined with acceptance. What stories of renewal might the objects themselves conceal from Norse Mythology that inform our modern experience? And what if they tasted of pears? Sorry, just musing. Curator: (Laughs) Indeed. But tell me, what of those partial studies? That disembodied hand pointing skyward. What's your take on that? Editor: Ah, fascinating, aren’t they? That isolated hand, and the head studies give away the sense that it is a process of piecing together, not just of artistic practice but perhaps of belief too, looking to higher forces that might explain existence. Also notice the similarity to other visual signifiers for divinty and faith like Saint John. A nod toward an amalgamation of stories? It's like a whispered question lingering in the air. Curator: A confluence of the pagan and Christian perhaps. Very insightful. A fruitful combination! Editor: Exactly. As if Lund isn't just depicting a Norse goddess, but an echo, a visual translation of eternal longing—something humans grapple with regardless of their particular mythologies. Curator: Lund gives us much to think about! A worthy glimpse at one moment in time!