A Girl Kissing a Satyr Boy, Allegory of Love c. 1720 - 1730

This stone sculpture, titled "A Girl Kissing a Satyr Boy, Allegory of Love" by Jan Pieter van Baurscheit the First, is a study in contrasts and textures. At first glance, the eye is drawn to the intimate gesture: a girl tenderly kissing a satyr boy. The composition relies heavily on the interplay between the smooth, rounded forms of the children's bodies and the rougher, more textured surfaces of the satyr's goat legs and the rocky base. The whiteness of the stone enhances the tactile quality, inviting a close inspection of the surfaces. This tension between the polished and the raw, the human and the bestial, destabilizes the conventional ideas of love as purely innocent or idealized. Instead, Baurscheit presents love as a complex negotiation of opposing forces, where tenderness and wildness coexist. It's in this formal juxtaposition that the sculpture finds its deeper meaning, challenging our assumptions and inviting us to reconsider the multifaceted nature of affection.