Don Paez 1822 - 1885

Joel Ballin created this print, "Don Paez," in the 19th century, capturing a dramatic embrace within a doorway. The act of embracing has ancient roots, symbolizing love, reconciliation, or farewell, depending on its context. Consider how this motif appears across various periods: from ancient Roman funerary reliefs, where embraces signify a final goodbye, to medieval depictions of the "kiss of peace," embodying spiritual unity. Here, the embrace is passionate and imbued with a tension amplified by the doorway—a symbolic threshold between departure and return. The emotional intensity conveyed through the figures’ entwined bodies speaks to a deeply rooted human experience: the longing for connection and the pain of separation. The act of embracing transcends time, echoing through art history as a powerful expression of human emotion. The gesture cycles through time, constantly being reinterpreted yet always tethered to our shared emotional landscape.