Schouw met kandelaars 1946

Curator: Oh, isn't this drawing marvelous? It’s entitled "Schouw met kandelaars"—"Fireplace with candelabras"— dating from 1946. The artist, Emanuel Eichel, captured this vision on paper using pen and engraving. Editor: It certainly is intricate! My first thought? An almost dreamlike nostalgia, that specific kind of melancholy you get when you're leafing through old family albums. It feels… distant. Curator: Yes, distant! That baroque style, so embellished, speaks of an era obsessed with surface and display. Think about what such ornate fireplaces represented back then—power, status, the literal heart of the home… and the gatekeepers of access, then and still! Editor: Absolutely. The social aspect is clear. But the dreamlike quality hits me harder. Look at the symmetry and fine lines; yet, the scene also possesses a slight cartoonish aspect, as if remembering a play. What do you think, could this exaggerated formality actually mock those structures of power you just mentioned? Curator: Mockery, perhaps subtly so! But maybe also admiration or yearning. The artwork was made right after WWII so that may affect the piece. Look at those little cherubs flanking the fireplace. Their innocence feels like a poignant wish for a return to pre-war comforts and simplicity, wouldn’t you agree? Or perhaps, their mere presence already mocks established power? Editor: Good point about context; it reframes everything. And now that you point it out, their slightly absurd presence makes me think this artwork could actually expose the artificiality of established ideals. A yearning AND a subtle deconstruction all at once, if you like? The rigid facade cracks just enough to show a glimmer of the humanity, or perhaps the absurdity, behind it. Curator: That tension—between longing and critique—makes the piece even more compelling. It’s like Eichel captured not just a fireplace but a whole conflicted feeling, hasn't he? Editor: Precisely. It is a simple drawing but, even in its lines and flourishes, there lies a dialogue that can encourage us to rethink power structures, identity and the illusion of 'better times'. So I really do thank Eichel and his “Fireplace with candelabras” for that.