Bedrog leidt het volk naar de ondergang 1604

Curator: This is "Bedrog leidt het volk naar de ondergang," or "Deception Leads the People to Ruin," an engraving by Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, created in 1604. It is currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My initial reaction is… chaotic. The lines are frantic, almost agitated. Even though it's static, there's a real sense of movement toward something ominous. Curator: The engraving employs allegory to illustrate societal decay. Deception, as personified, quite literally leads a throng of people astray. Look at the details; those blindfolded figures, the grotesque masks...it speaks to a powerful critique of manipulative forces within society. Editor: The masks immediately stand out. They are symbols of disguise, of course, but there's more to it. Consider the exaggerated expressions—these are not simply hidden faces but deliberate distortions. Are they representative of the kind of artificial persona we don in public to either seduce or deceive others, to hide the vulnerable truth of one's interior? The masks obscure the wearer’s own downfall by masking the ugliness. Curator: Exactly. And notice how these symbols of falsity are quite literally being carried as ornaments and clothes on False Pretenses/Seduction. In Coornhert's time, printmaking served as a crucial medium for social commentary. It's essential to consider his humanistic background and critique of religious and political authority. Editor: What strikes me now is how the artist captures that feeling of collective delusion; it evokes images we still see around us. You have figures eagerly rushing ahead, some stumbling, clearly without vision or purpose. It gives a visceral warning, something almost universal in its representation. It's less about one specific time, more about what recurs again and again, what festers and leads to corruption, across epochs. Curator: The enduring relevance lies in how Coornhert dissected these manipulative patterns, and held up art to examine the forces of control and corruption using stark visual language, reminding us of the vulnerability of societal systems. Editor: Absolutely. This really allows us to reflect on the enduring symbolic power and cyclical patterns inherent in social behavior and self-deception. The engraving really pushes viewers to look inward.