Illustration til "L'Oraison Dominicale" 1863

Curator: This engraving, "Illustration til 'L'Oraison Dominicale'", by Lorenz Frølich, was created in 1863 and it presents an intriguing narrative through a compilation of scenes. What’s your initial take on this complex composition? Editor: Well, my first impression is that it's hauntingly beautiful, like fragmented memories or pages torn from a gothic storybook. The stark contrast and the detailed engraving pull you into each vignette. A raw, almost primal energy. Curator: The method of engraving itself adds to that rawness, don't you think? Each line etched painstakingly into the metal plate, printed to create these scenes. Notice the top panel—it appears to depict Adam and Eve, though there is an odd pairing of dogs accompanying them after their expulsion. It really emphasizes a story unfolding, right? Editor: It absolutely does. It feels less like a moral tale and more like an unraveling of innocence. That lower scene within the oval reminds me of wrestling, it adds another layer of complexity—violence as an aspect of human nature. What about the smaller vignette of a bull being sacrificed on an alter and the plaque with the roman numerals, I to V? Curator: A key element here for sure! The bull may allude to pagan traditions while the tablets represent moral laws. When you think about this existing within a series of illustrations meant to underscore a very important religious practice (i.e. prayer), this creates such interesting contrast. Consider the paper quality. Its fibrousness makes one consider how easily printmaking disseminated ideologies. Editor: True! The juxtaposition you describe between "religious practice" and "paganism," to me feels less a contrast and more the recognition that it takes both the Apollonian (restraint) and Dionysian (the orgiastic bull sacrifice) to make a whole human, so that both light and dark have a necessary space, each in it's own register of visual display. And these impressions from a block feel so weighty, it gives so much visual heft! Curator: Exactly! The interplay between light and shadow, innocence and transgression…Frølich forces the viewer to reckon with these dichotomies through a mass produced medium and distributed to countless viewers to think on similar ideas! Editor: Yes, this artwork leaves you with more questions than answers. I'm oddly grateful for that ambiguity. It keeps those archetypal anxieties alive in my mind, buzzing!