Achilleus og ternerne klagende over Patrokles' død 1773 - 1776

Editor: Here we have Nicolai Abildgaard's pen and ink drawing, "Achilles and the Maids Mourning Patroclus' Death," created between 1773 and 1776. It has a somber feel to it, emphasized by the artist's bold strokes in monochromatic ink. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Well, focusing on the materiality, observe how Abildgaard employs simple pen and ink not just for aesthetic representation, but also as a tool to convey specific social messages through the image of mourning. The pen, mass-produced and readily available, democratizes the act of art making itself, doesn't it? Note the swift, economical strokes: How do these affect your understanding of the subject matter and, more importantly, the artist's own relationship with labor? Editor: I guess it speaks to the efficiency of the tools available at the time and maybe even the value placed on the time and effort used to make the image? Curator: Exactly. The choice of pen and ink, versus a more 'refined' medium, makes me think of Abildgaard deliberately connecting high art with a kind of artisanal, productive effort. Consider the labour that’s typically erased from considerations of “high art”. What’s more, he has made it using ink, what can we extract by paying closer attention to the medium, given that ink's inherent connection to the history of writing, recording and disseminating information? Editor: It sounds like he's making a statement about who gets to create art and how that labor is valued within society. This opens my eyes to seeing that this drawing transcends pure aesthetics to become a document reflecting on production itself. Curator: Precisely. And viewing it through a materialist lens pushes us to challenge our assumptions about historical divisions of labour. Editor: Thank you! Now I see it's more than just the illustration of the Illiad. Curator: It goes to show that sometimes it's not just what you represent but how it is represented that has all the significance.