Twee mannen met een brief 1721

Bernard Picart created this print, “Two Men with a Letter,” likely in 1721, now held at the Rijksmuseum. It depicts two figures engrossed in a letter, seemingly a pivotal exchange. The letter, a potent symbol, speaks to the conveyance of ideas, emotions, and perhaps, secrets. The act of reading and interpreting a letter, an intensely human moment, echoes through time. Consider the Egyptian god Thoth, scribe of the gods, whose ibis head is synonymous with writing and knowledge. Similarly, Hermes, messenger of the Greek gods, embodies communication and exchange. The exchange of letters transcends mere information; it carries emotional weight, akin to a psychoanalytic transference. The letter becomes a vessel for subconscious desires and fears, engaging viewers on a profoundly personal level. This print reminds us that symbols endure, reborn in different eras, constantly accumulating new layers of meaning in our shared cultural memory.