Keglespil 1667

Claudine Bouzonnet Stella created this print called 'Keglespil', now at the SMK, using engraving techniques to meticulously render a scene of leisure and play. The composition is structured around two main clusters of figures, connected by the implied line of the game itself. The texture achieved through engraving gives a tactile quality to the leaves, clothing, and even the air around the figures. Stella’s careful modulation of light and shadow across the scene enhances the sense of depth. By using line and form to convey depth, Stella situates the figures in an idealized pastoral space. The activity of the bowling game might be seen as a metaphor for social harmony, where individual actions contribute to a collective experience. The detailed foliage and serene background landscapes function as signs of an ordered natural world. Note how the very act of engraving, a process of controlled incision and precise mark-making, mirrors the themes of order and control depicted in the scene. The print invites us to consider how human activities and natural environments are represented and understood through formal structure and cultural codes.