Allegorie op het 100-jarig jubileum van Nederlands Vrijheid, 1648-1748 1748

Editor: This is Simon Fokke’s "Allegorie op het 100-jarig jubileum van Nederlands Vrijheid, 1648-1748," made in 1748 with ink on paper. It's a bit overwhelming, all those figures floating around, but I suppose it was made to celebrate a century of Dutch freedom. How would you interpret all this, what do you make of it? Curator: It’s a wonderfully intricate piece! It’s like a fantastical pageant celebrating the Dutch Republic, isn't it? Note how the figures, allegorical of course, are almost weightless. They drift in a theatrical space filled with light and suggestion. Fokke is really laying on the symbolism here. Do you recognize any of the figures? Editor: Well, there are a lot of women in classical garb. Is one of them supposed to be the Dutch Maiden? Curator: Exactly! She is the one holding the spear with the hat, symbol of liberty, right? And see how the crown lies discarded at her feet? Fokke paints Freedom not just as absence of war, but prosperity and a kind of scholarly calm too. That said, the drawing, like the baroque, might strike a contemporary viewer as fussy and a bit too ornate…don’t you think? Editor: A bit! Though it makes me wonder if people felt the same way then? Maybe that's just what celebration looked like at the time. Curator: A great point, and a reminder not to project our aesthetics onto past eras. This was a young republic making a statement about its place on the world stage. Every swirling line, every cloud, a tiny note in a symphony of self-congratulation. It’s a very Dutch kind of boast, wouldn’t you say? Understated and a little…cerebral? Editor: I suppose! It’s definitely given me a lot to think about, thanks! Curator: Likewise. It's amazing how a single image can unlock so much history, wouldn't you agree?