Statue of Venus 1675

Editor: Here we have Claude Mellan's "Statue of Venus," a really elegant engraving. The hatching is incredible! It feels a little…clinical, though, despite the subject. What jumps out at you? Curator: Clinical, yes, but only on the surface, perhaps. The hatching, that relentless line, it becomes something else. Think of it as a kind of devotion, a transcription. What does it mean to record beauty with such…precision? I wonder if Mellan saw himself as both artist and historian, capturing a fading ideal. Editor: So, it's not coldness, but maybe reverence? The way he's trying to preserve something? Curator: Precisely! And notice how the continuous line almost sculpts the form. It's a very different approach than, say, Rubens. Mellan seeks the truth of the statue itself. Editor: I definitely see the reverence now. The line work really does make you look closer. Curator: Indeed. A conversation between artist, artwork, and us, the viewers.