Augustus 1679 - 1704

This print, Augustus, was created by Cornelis Dusart around the turn of the 18th century. Here, we see a scene of labor, with workers threshing grain. The woman bent over the sack, and the man raising his flail in a wide arc, are powerful images, rooted in the timeless cycle of harvest and sustenance. Consider the act of threshing itself – separating the grain from the chaff. This motif echoes through time, appearing in ancient agricultural rituals, and even finding its way into religious symbolism, where the winnowing of wheat represents the separation of good from evil. Think of the biblical references to the “wheat and the tares,” or depictions of the Grim Reaper with his scythe, a clear connection to agricultural tools. The physical exertion, the sweat, the raw energy of the scene evokes primal, subconscious responses. We are reminded of our dependence on the land, and of the relentless, cyclical nature of existence. It’s a theme that constantly resurfaces. Just as the harvest follows the planting season, certain archetypes continue to reappear in our collective consciousness.