Illustration til "Det Gamle Huus" i H.C. Andersen, "Eventyr og Historier", Bind 2 1870 - 1873

H.P. Hansen created this illustration for Hans Christian Andersen’s "The Old House." In it, a small boy and an old man stand before a pianoforte, a portrait of a woman looking down upon them. Consider the posture of the woman. Her arms are folded in front of her, a pose that suggests contemplation but also perhaps a hint of defiance or self-containment. This gesture echoes across time, appearing in ancient sculptures and Renaissance portraits, each time carrying a slightly different nuance—authority, reflection, or even vulnerability. We see it, too, in photographs of the late 19th century and in contemporary film. It is in the human psyche that these echoes reverberate most strongly. These gestures speak to the subconscious, triggering buried associations and emotional responses. Each symbol, each composition, is a cultural fossil, a trace of human experience across centuries.