Panoplia. Fries met Romeinse wapens, bovenste deel 1572

Editor: Here we have “Panoplia. Fries met Romeinse wapens, bovenste deel,” an engraving from 1572 by Johannes or Lucas van Doetechum, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It's this amazing array of Roman arms, rendered with such precision. It's all very…assertive, wouldn't you say? All those sharp angles and weaponry. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Assertive, yes, almost a controlled chaos, isn't it? To me, it’s a carefully orchestrated visual poem about power and, perhaps, a slight melancholic whisper of the past. It's interesting to consider the time it was made – the late Renaissance, a period steeped in the rediscovery of classical ideals, yet also brimming with religious and political turmoil. Does it strike you as purely celebratory, or is there something else lurking beneath the surface? Editor: Hmm, lurking... Well, there's definitely a sense of pomp, but also… almost like a display in a museum itself, distanced from actual battle. It's powerful, but safely contained. Curator: Exactly! Think about the act of creating a print, reproducing and disseminating these symbols of power. It's not about wielding the sword but about controlling its image, shaping its narrative. Do you find that changes the message at all? Does it become more about the idea of power than the brute reality? Editor: Absolutely, it's more about the concept, a carefully constructed image of might. I hadn't really considered the distance that the printmaking adds to it, but now I see how vital that is. Curator: And the beauty of it, that image, then invites us into a new space entirely. Food for thought, anyway. Editor: Definitely! I am finding this has been very useful to have this talk.