Blad met twee platen: everzwijn en das 1740 - 1745

Johan Eric Rehn created this print of a wild boar and a badger. Both animals rest passively on a patch of land. Let us linger over the boar, or everzwijn as it is known. This bristly creature, now resting, embodies a primal vitality, a force woven deeply into our collective consciousness. The boar appears in myriad myths and legends, from the Calydonian Boar hunt in Greek mythology to its symbolism of courage and ferocity across cultures. Yet here, it is stilled. The choice to depict it in repose sparks a tension; its dormant strength hinting at an undercurrent of potential energy, as if the beast could spring to life at any moment. The image echoes through time, reminding us of the cyclical dance between rest and action, vulnerability and strength, deeply embedded within our cultural psyche. Perhaps it also is a reminder of our own mortality; the fate of a beast, a commoner, a king, is the same.