Grootmoedigheid 1663 - 1738

Curator: Up next, we have "Grootmoedigheid," or "Magnanimity," an engraving, created sometime between 1663 and 1738, attributed to Jacques-Antoine Friquet de Vauroze. It depicts a triumphant figure in a chariot. Editor: Immediately I feel a sort of… energetic reverence. It’s powerful but constrained within that diamond shape. What jumps out is the sheer exertion—the people struggling, the horse straining, that feels incredibly palpable. Curator: That diamond framing is interesting, isn't it? It really boxes in the scene, and perhaps speaks to the controlled nature of Baroque allegory. There's so much contained energy—a fascinating contrast! Note how even within that limited space, the artist is invoking themes of grandeur. Editor: Exactly! And what a strange mix of messages… We're supposed to admire this “Magnanimity” being displayed but look at the physical toll – even brutal - it extracts from these supporting figures and the animal. Curator: Right, the triumph celebrated comes with a cost, vividly rendered in their straining bodies. I wonder if viewers then would’ve seen this sacrifice differently – an expected part of the victor's honor, maybe? The symbolic gesture, so integral to triumphal entries through gates of power and civic stages of power, could well make that price palatable. Editor: Yes, fascinating! I see it now—not so much a glorification, perhaps, as an exploration of that cost, revealed to the informed reader, willing to linger and look closely at these details. A Baroque meditation on power. Curator: It invites one to look beyond the apparent prestige and question what feeds that display of… generosity or greatness. To ponder that perhaps the price of honor always entails sacrifices by others, be they literal, physical sacrifices, or just some subtler emotional kind of cost. Editor: Very astute. This reminds me again that even the most powerful imagery contains questions far beyond immediate glorifications of state and power. There's a very contemporary sentiment embedded in what we might otherwise casually accept as just historical décor. Curator: I concur entirely: and it keeps on challenging me.