Illustration XIII c. 16th century

Curator: This is Illustration XIII, an anonymous work housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Its stark lines and crowded composition immediately strike me. What's your initial read? Editor: It feels like a woodcut fever dream! All these figures crammed together on boats, with a dragon looming over a walled city...it’s intense, chaotic, but also oddly charming. Curator: The imagery certainly draws from classical narratives. Aeneas is possibly at the helm there. But I think its real power resides in how it reflects the socio-political anxieties of its time, grappling with themes of exile and conquest. Editor: I see that! And the way the artist uses line, so dense in some areas and sparse in others...it's like the sea itself is breathing, reflecting the characters’ precarious journey and also the internal storms of displacement. Curator: Precisely. It invites us to consider how these narratives of migration and cultural collision resonate across centuries. Editor: You know, sometimes I forget how much you can pack into these tiny images. It's a whole world in a box. Curator: Indeed. And one that continues to provoke questions.