Plate 9: A youth playing the recorder while a man to the left holds up a music book; from 'Icones ad vivum expressae' after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta 1743

Editor: This is “Plate 9: A youth playing the recorder while a man to the left holds up a music book," created in 1743 after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. The print feels quite intimate, almost like eavesdropping on a music lesson. What's your take? Curator: Intimate is a great word for it! To me, this feels like a moment captured, wouldn’t you say? There's a tenderness here, a sense of intergenerational connection. I wonder what the relationship is between these figures? A father teaching his son? An apprenticeship? The Baroque loved to explore contrasts of age and innocence, knowledge and potential. Notice how the light gently caresses their faces, drawing our eyes to their expressions. It makes me question the dynamics playing out in this composition. Editor: It’s true that the focus is very much on their faces and gestures. So much of the story comes through there. What strikes you about the recorder player himself? Curator: His focused concentration! It's captivating. The slight furrow of his brow shows the effort he’s putting in. Then I see the book the elder figure is holding open, almost guiding the melody. He’s present and supportive. Music wasn’t merely entertainment in the Baroque era; it was an expression of order and harmony, mirroring the cosmos. Editor: It sounds like you're seeing harmony, balance and maybe a bit of aspiration, captured in a fleeting moment. Curator: Exactly! I appreciate you using that word; it’s interesting how an engraving, normally a more ‘distant’ medium, can capture so much emotion and interaction. What a privilege it is to interpret it! Editor: Absolutely. It gives you so much food for thought, despite it only being a fleeting glimpse into another time.