Allegorie op het ontwaken 1685 - 1689

Curator: This engraving, called "Allegory on the Awakening," was crafted by Gerard de Lairesse between 1685 and 1689. It's a striking example of baroque artistry we have here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Baroque indeed. It feels like a fever dream rendered in delicate lines, doesn’t it? So much languor and implied drama. Is everyone alright, or has the apocalypse arrived and nobody bothered to put on trousers? Curator: It's a scene thick with symbolic density. Notice how Lairesse stages his figures against the backdrop of crumbling classical architecture, a very popular theme in that era. Editor: Symbolism runs riot! To me, the broken buildings tell a story of shifting powers and disrupted narratives. Almost as if to say even grand civilizations eventually stumble. Curator: Precisely. That sense of grand narrative dissolving into individual experience is essential for baroque allegory. The female figures, particularly the nudes, represent more than just physical forms. They stand for transformation, rebirth. Notice one looks positively troubled. Editor: The reclining nudes strike me. Is it merely artistic license to show the supposed enlightened stage or is there a narrative, even political, intention to depict female agency and awakening here? Curator: Undoubtedly there's political context. But allegory isn't about direct translation; it's a puzzle box of ideas, cultural anxieties rendered in visual form. And those lines—so delicate and yet so purposeful! Lairesse’s skill with engraving brought out every nuance. Editor: Each pose is meticulously constructed; I sense Lairesse carefully selected elements that echo deeper concerns from his time—the pursuit of knowledge versus the comfort of ignorance, perhaps. Curator: Precisely. He uses a kind of visual shorthand; figures enacting these greater conflicts and philosophies. Editor: A dense field of thought captured by an economy of means. A brilliant summation on change that almost looks to me as if captured mid-blink. Thank you. Curator: And thank you. Another look always adds an enlightening dimension.