Fragment van een collage van uitgeknipte prenten, geplakt op blauw papier c. 1680 - 1720

This is a fragment of a collage of cut prints, pasted on blue paper, made by an anonymous artist. While the artist remains unknown, the work provides insight into how images circulated and were reinterpreted in the past. The scene depicted seems to capture a moment of power or authority, perhaps a royal or religious event. The figures are arranged in a way that accentuates hierarchy and status. What I find compelling is how the collage medium itself speaks to the act of collecting, rearranging, and giving new meaning to existing visual material. It makes me think of the many hands this image may have passed through, and the different contexts it may have inhabited. It is a reminder that images are never neutral, and that their meanings are constantly negotiated through social and cultural practices.