Entry of Marie de Medici into Amsterdam [plate 6 of 6] 1639

Curator: Pieter Nolpe’s engraving from 1639, titled "Entry of Marie de Medici into Amsterdam," presents a grand procession in minute detail. It is one of six plates which record Marie de Medici's travels. Editor: The whole scene has a faded storybook charm, doesn't it? Almost ghostly, as though lifted from an antique legend. The lines create so much detailed texture; it’s like a stage set, incredibly formal yet feels…distant. Curator: Note the formal symmetry employed across the plane of the engraving: The figure of de Medici is centered, balanced on either side by her entourage of riders, drawing the eye from the somewhat sketch-like rendering of the landscape to the importance of the processional form. Editor: The dog in the foreground throws the composition, for me, completely off-kilter...like a glitch. Was he supposed to be there? Maybe he's a stand-in for the rebellious streak Marie suppressed in her later years! Or perhaps a general reminder that daily life unfolds whether a queen rolls through or not! Curator: Nolpe’s technique utilizes clean, precise lines which construct spatial recession. And, indeed, as this plate served as document and a symbol of status, the balance reflects the gravity of its patron, rather than spontaneous emotion or a disruption to the event. Editor: It's the faces. They're not portraits; they're types. As a historical artifact, what does this stylistic decision reveal to us? It lends itself to this wonderful narrative and sense of removal from the subject portrayed. Curator: The strategic employment of genre and history-painting conventions offers the observer of Nolpe’s engraving a lens through which to consider power, not simply the recording of an event. This separation allows a reading of iconographic, if somewhat, romantic significance. Editor: Yes...but it's still distant. Like watching history unfold from behind a curtain; there's drama, yes, but the heavy line-work seems to insist it is already done, over and memorialized. Almost dream-like, then. Curator: An interesting, albeit intuitive interpretation of its manifest semiotic value. Editor: Maybe. Regardless, that little dog did get to me though.