Winter: een koning met de vier winden 1568

Editor: This engraving, "Winter: a King with the Four Winds," from 1568 by Lambert Lombard, feels strangely… contemporary, doesn’t it? The stark lines and that imposing central figure create this powerful sense of… well, cold, obviously, but also isolation. What jumps out at you when you look at it? Curator: Ah, yes, Lambert Lombard. He had such a curious mind! What leaps out? Well, aside from the howling wind-faces that would be quite at home in a modern cartoon, it’s that figure himself: the very personification of Winter. Do you notice how he's not just sitting there, all grumpy-like? Look closer! Editor: You’re right! He’s wearing this elaborate armor, almost scaly-looking, and he’s got this spiky crown. Is that supposed to tell us something about his power? Curator: Precisely! Lombard's weaving allegory with observation. Winter isn't just a season; it's a reign. A stern ruler. And what’s more fearsome than a ruler with power over the very elements? Notice those icy blasts issuing from the winds; that desolate, frozen landscape, the people struggling to get along... Lombard has rendered the season's bite – both beautiful and brutal! A perfect pen work of history. I find it hard to turn away. Editor: It's amazing how much feeling is conveyed with so few lines! The level of detail on that armor... It makes you think about the skill, and the meaning of the time and patience involved. It gives you pause, really. Thanks for pointing that out! Curator: My pleasure! Isn't that the best kind of art? It rewards your looking, doesn’t it, leading you down paths you never quite expected to travel. I see, and understand, Winter in a new way now.