Bas-reliëf van de Romeinsche Keizer Valerianus in een rots te Naks-i-Rustam, Perzië Possibly 1925

This photograph captures a bas-relief of the Roman Emperor Valerianus carved into a rock in Nak-si-Rustam, Persia, by A.G.A. van Eelde. The rock face is roughly hewn, but then look at the detail of the figures emerging out of the stone. I wonder what it was like for van Eelde, standing before this colossal rock, trying to capture the scale and texture of the original carving. The light, the dust, the sheer physical effort! There is something about the starkness of the black and white that draws the eye to the relief itself. You can almost feel the weight of the rock and the permanence of the carved figures, a testament to power, history, and the enduring human desire to leave a mark. It reminds me that every artist stands on the shoulders of those who came before, in conversation with artists across time.