Allegory of Science 1780 - 1795

Editor: Here we have François Rémond’s “Allegory of Science,” a bronze relief from sometime between 1780 and 1795. The whole scene is bathed in this warm, golden light, and there's a sense of playfulness with these cherubic figures engaging with scientific symbols. What's your interpretation of this piece, and what strikes you most about its allegorical nature? Curator: You know, it's funny, looking at it now, it reminds me of those Renaissance putti, those little cherubs popping up everywhere. Only here, instead of harps and flowers, they're fiddling with instruments of science, like a celestial globe. It’s as if Rémond is suggesting that scientific exploration is not some dry, intellectual pursuit but a joyful, even childish, activity. The light reflects and warms, doesn't it? Almost as if the material is not static or representational but is light and active, in itself. What do you make of that juxtaposition? Editor: That’s such a great observation! It completely reframes how I was seeing it. The lightness, you are right, contrasts wonderfully. Almost as if to remind the viewer that there is a lightness in education itself, an activity too-often marred in the popular conception of heavy learning. Curator: Exactly! It invites a kind of playful intellectual engagement, doesn't it? As for allegory, it boils down to this idea of representing abstract concepts through tangible symbols. Here science isn’t just science, it's personified, almost deified, as this idyllic scene of childlike exploration and learning. What more can you find, now, with that consideration? Editor: Knowing it's an allegory really deepens my understanding of it, I have to admit. Curator: Wonderful. It just makes you wonder, what 'science' are they allegorizing? How has science been since seen, and what did Remond envision, exactly, about the relationship between exploration and childlike discovery? I'm sure each viewer sees that with fresh eyes. Editor: Definitely! It’s given me so much to consider about the era’s view of knowledge and discovery. Curator: Indeed. Art, and our conversation too perhaps, is always a work in progress, after all!