Diana en Pan 1686 - 1748

Editor: So, this is “Diana en Pan,” an etching by Giovanni Girolamo Frezza, sometime between 1686 and 1748. There’s something unsettling about the composition—the contrast between Diana and Pan. How do you interpret this work? Curator: This image pulses with visual memory. Note Diana, goddess of the moon, associated with chastity and the hunt. Above, she is detached, ethereal, literally floating on a cloud. But what is she doing offering the skin of a lion to Pan? Editor: Exactly! Pan, the goat-legged god of the wild, stands rigidly, and there's a goat beside him, both in this earthy landscape. It is like a before-and-after image, an overt transformation taking place. Curator: Precisely! Think of the lion skin, a trophy, typically associated with Hercules and power. Now it's presented by Diana to Pan, of all creatures. Is it about taming the wild, or something deeper? Do you see the potential inversion here, perhaps a commentary on the changing values? What emotional narrative does the cultural memory elicit for you? Editor: The inversion… It does turn things on their head, like the wild *becoming* the civilized, and what happens if you try to sanitize the wild? There’s something sad about that. Almost tragic. I hadn't really picked that up initially, it all seemed a little random. Curator: The power of symbols shifts through the ages, informed by the gaze of those interpreting them. It’s this exchange between eras, figures and viewer, that gives art its lasting relevance, would you agree? Editor: Definitely! The lasting relevance lies in its multiple interpretations. It has been great learning about the layers behind what seemed a very simple picture. Thanks!