Diana met pijlenkoker, boog en hert 1530

Curator: Walking around the corner, we find Jacob Binck’s 1530 engraving, currently held at the Rijksmuseum, titled “Diana with Quiver, Bow, and Deer." Editor: Well, that's a bit of a mood. It’s like, strong goddess energy but in a really old-school, almost… I don’t know, *stiff* kind of way. What's she looking at? And why is that deer giving me side-eye? Curator: Note how Binck renders Diana. He gives us her full figure in the nude, bow in hand, the quiver and stag emphasizing her domain over the hunt and the wilderness, while the inscription identifies her as a "most chaste virgin." It's loaded with symbolic meaning. Editor: “Most chaste virgin”… with the side-eye deer? It feels like there’s some ironic commentary going on beneath the surface here. The classical elements and this more earthy rendering... I am sure someone was poking fun at something. The lines of the engraving are just so firm, aren't they? Everything is outlined with the precision of a comic. And those cross-hatched shadows! The shading adds so much dimension. Curator: Absolutely, the technique here is exemplary. Notice how the artist has skillfully built form and shadow, a common tool of printmakers. I agree. And you touch on a tension central to the work - it seems both a celebration of the classical ideal of beauty, embodied in Diana, but also hints at a critique through Binck’s Northern Renaissance sensibilities. Editor: Exactly! And I bet there were probably multiple layers to that back in the day. Is this is why art is awesome? These little historical dramas captured in ink and paper. A wink from five hundred years ago… Who knew engravings could gossip? Curator: Precisely! It provides endless pathways of conversation. Thank you for lending us your contemporary insights, the interplay enlivens the work. Editor: The pleasure’s all mine. Feeling more connected to a 500-year-old engraving. Good times!