Don Philippo en Eleonora 1643

Editor: Right now, we're looking at a print called "Don Philippo en Eleonora," etched in 1643 by Pieter Nolpe, housed in the Rijksmuseum. The etching captures two figures in a rather… strange pose, I'd say. The detail is amazing, especially considering it's a print. What do you see in it? Curator: Ah, yes! It speaks of a tender deception, doesn’t it? A candlelit confession whispered close… I envision the artist himself lurking behind that curtain, breathless as he captures this little tragicomedy. What secrets do those shadowed corners conceal? Nolpe invites us into the clandestine, urging us to wonder at what is said, not just what is shown. Editor: I never considered the potential of betrayal! But I thought she looked caring toward him, not villainous. Is my reading wrong? Curator: There is always the risk in reading character into gesture... Perhaps 'caring' is another mask. The question Nolpe is prompting, I believe, isn't of right versus wrong but the space between such simple binaries. What expectations, Eleanor asks the older Don Philippo, do you think the world puts on us versus what we wish to do? The world would cast us into specific roles but what should one do to avoid this reduction? Is that not a central tenet of Baroque Art, to ask viewers to look at such a conundrum? Editor: It changes everything, framing it as social commentary rather than personal. I thought Nolpe was making comment on the age gap between them or commenting on social mores, and the world around the image, perhaps I missed all the nuance in such simple form. Curator: Art has always danced best in disguise, luring the unsuspecting in with the guise of familiarity, no? But the greatest art--art which echoes to infinity-- asks what is truly unseen, beyond the superficialities in simple representation? Thank you for pointing toward new possible interpretation... Now, what do you make of that picture behind our dueling players? A battle, perhaps, like what faces them both?