Luna, the moon 1566 - 1569

Curator: Harmen Jansz. Muller gives us "Luna, the moon", a Renaissance engraving from around 1566-1569. It’s part of the collection at the SMK, the Statens Museum for Kunst. The level of detail, especially considering the medium, is captivating. Editor: My first thought? Dreamlike, but not in a fluffy way. There's a harshness to the lines, an almost scientific quality that pulls you in. The entire print looks like an astronomical or alchemical treatise. Curator: Precisely! It blends allegory with… observation. The figure of Luna is dominant, of course, riding her chariot in the sky, a globe in her hand. Below, we see people engaging in various aquatic activities – fishing, sailing – all rendered in intricate detail. The accompanying Latin text explains it a little: Those born under the sign of the Moon are inclined to live near water. Editor: Yes! Water equals the unconscious, right? The figures are absorbed, deeply connected with it… even drowning in it! The moon pulls on the tides, literally on our emotions… which ties into that Scorpion constellation that looms overhead in the sky. Curator: Muller, or whoever designed this composition, was clearly fluent in the symbolic language of the time. Notice the women pulling Luna’s chariot. Are they perhaps representations of phases of the moon, or some other temporal aspect of her influence? The attention to detail suggests a deep engagement with astrological or cosmological ideas. Editor: It feels like an attempt to map the macrocosm—the movements of celestial bodies—onto the microcosm of human activity. It’s ambitious, visually stunning and deeply weird all at once. The people look so burdened somehow, but also at one with this cosmic drama! Are they being guided by the stars, or drowned by them? Curator: That ambiguity is perhaps its strength. The piece prompts us to ponder our connection to the universe, or at least the anxieties about human place and destiny that prevailed during the Renaissance. I also just love the lines: the confidence of them is compelling. Editor: It does offer up more questions than answers, doesn't it? “Luna, the moon” invites us to gaze both outward to the cosmos and inward to the waters of our own depths. Pretty thought-provoking for a Renaissance print.