Drie putti dragen een vierde putto 1737 - 1754

Curator: This is a pen drawing titled "Drie putti dragen een vierde putto", placing it within the Baroque style, likely created between 1737 and 1754. The piece currently resides here at the Rijksmuseum. What's your initial take? Editor: Well, immediately, it feels like a slightly melancholic cherubic party. It’s almost absurd to see them piled atop one another like that. There's a subtle, but definitely palpable sense of tension despite the seemingly lighthearted subject matter, don’t you think? Curator: It is interesting you say tension. The method of engraving emphasizes line quality which here produces light and shadow, really showcasing volume and weight. We often see cherubs in decorative engravings. Were these destined for architectural ornament or prints sold as cheap and reproducible artistic exercises? Editor: Good question! To me, there's an intimate feeling to it, perhaps because it's a drawing and not a painting, as if we're peeking into the artist's private sketch book. And those cherubic figures, so reminiscent of religious iconography, yet placed in such a mundane task… Is it blasphemous? Hilarious? Both? Curator: Consider that during the Baroque period, these allegorical representations were very common. I wonder about the market forces at play for works like this and for whom these kinds of images held value. These engravings are documents that open a small window into visualizing the economic relationship between image, meaning and maker. Editor: Absolutely! It feels like the artist is winking at us from across the centuries, using cherubs, the quintessential symbol of ethereal joy, to reflect on perhaps the burdensome aspects of life itself. It makes me wonder what Benedict Winkler, the artist, was going through when creating this. Curator: A thought-provoking reflection on this piece’s emotional impact! I find myself drawn to its status as an object that has traveled through various economic relationships. Editor: I agree. I now see in these putti the quiet strength of burdened caretakers all around us. What an evocative demonstration of what it means to carry one another!