Initial A c. 16th century

Curator: Look at this fascinating Initial A, an anonymous piece residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Gosh, it's both beautiful and a bit unsettling. The high contrast and the ornate details give it a strangely chaotic energy. Curator: Absolutely. We can see within the letterform itself are figures of death and rebirth, almost like a dance between the macabre and the innocent. It reflects on the socio-political turmoil of the time. Editor: The cherubic figures coupled with those skeletal renderings create a powerful tension. It speaks to the ephemeral nature of life and maybe even societal anxieties. Curator: Precisely, and the fact that it's an initial suggests it was made to signal importance, perhaps at the start of a text dealing with similar themes. Editor: It really makes you question what truths they were hoping to underscore, and for whom. Heavy stuff for just one letter, right? Curator: It certainly is, but it all just further illustrates how art can tell a story beyond the artist and the period in which it was created.