Pakezel met dode herten op zijn rug before 1860

Curator: What strikes you first about this rather peculiar scene? The donkey practically groaning under the weight, maybe? Editor: It’s the absurdity that grabs me. I mean, that poor donkey. He looks resigned to his fate. There's a dark humour at play here. What are we even looking at exactly? Curator: We're observing a pencil and graphite drawing, perhaps even a print, created before 1860 by Martinus Antonius Kuytenbrouwer jr. The title, "Pakezel met dode herten op zijn rug," translates to something like “Pack donkey with dead deer on its back”. Editor: Well, the title doesn't disappoint! It does what it says on the tin. Although, the way those deer are arranged… It’s almost celebratory, morbidly so. Is it meant to be some sort of commentary? Curator: Caricature and genre painting are two of the listed themes here, pointing perhaps toward social commentary, particularly about labour, or hunting culture. Visually, the animal is both burdened and adorned. Deer antlers almost decorate its head. We often load up symbolic weight on animals. Consider images like Atlas carrying the world, images where animal burden reflects a human burden. Editor: True. And there’s something deeply unsettling about seeing death arranged so deliberately. The basket containing one of the deer feels very much staged. This is not some offhand capture; this feels incredibly staged. It's darkly whimsical, in a way that gets under your skin. Curator: It certainly challenges conventional depictions of animals. We expect noble steeds or gentle pastoral scenes. This disrupts those notions, replacing them with something unsettlingly real. The weight of life, the burden of survival...It feels quite modern, in that regard. Editor: Agreed. You expect art to uplift you or transport you but something in its directness does something for me as well. The image and title leave you mulling over things and questioning assumptions about depictions of animals and their purpose or use by humans. Curator: A simple graphite drawing providing endless echoes, then. Editor: Precisely! A somber image but, at the same time, really gets the mental gears turning.