Dialoog tussen de herders Tityrus en Meliboeus 1703 - 1767

Editor: Here we have Jacob Folkema’s "Dialoog tussen de herders Tityrus en Meliboeus" from sometime between 1703 and 1767, held here at the Rijksmuseum. It’s an engraving, so the lines are incredibly crisp. I’m struck by the contrast: one shepherd seems at peace, almost melting into the landscape, while the other is…leaving? What do you make of this scene? Curator: It feels like stolen moment, doesn't it? Like we’ve stumbled into a conversation, heavy with unspoken implications. See how Tityrus reclines, utterly relaxed, almost dissolving into the earth—he’s at one with his surroundings. Folkema is playing with that Baroque drama, all hidden tension beneath a veneer of pastoral calm. Where do you think the tension is, exactly? Editor: Maybe it's in Meliboeus’s gesture – the outstretched arm, the contrapposto pose...He looks ready to leave, while Tityrus is…stuck? Or choosing to stay? Curator: Exactly. Meliboeus is literally being pulled away, isn't he? Forced to leave behind the simplicity that Tityrus embodies. It makes you wonder about what Virgil was thinking about, the pressures on the natural man against those of the world outside the farm. What feelings are evoked? Is one superior to the other? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn’t fully considered. The piece suddenly seems heavier, not just a pleasant countryside scene. Curator: Art always has these layers if you look at it with curiosity, just waiting to be unearthed, don't you think? A little like finding buried treasure right under our noses! I love these details of common humanity and that are hidden from a quick view. Editor: Me too! Thanks for pointing that out.