Horlogekast met Johannes de Doper bij de Heilige Familie c. 1650 - 1676

This is an anonymous engraving depicting John the Baptist with the Holy Family. Note the floral arrangements and the putti motif below, all classical symbols repurposed in this Christian context. Consider the putti—originally, they were pagan symbols of love and desire, figures from classical antiquity accompanying Venus, the goddess of love. Yet, here they are, repurposed in a Christian image, adorning the clock case. This echoes a broader phenomenon: the pagan past continually re-emerging, not erased, but transformed and imbued with new significance. The same visual language is passed down, but now charged with Christian sentiments. These cherubic figures, once tied to earthly passions, are now symbols of divine love and innocence. This metamorphosis speaks to the deep, perhaps subconscious, human need to reconcile our past with our present beliefs, continuously reinventing our symbols to fit our ever-evolving spiritual and cultural landscapes. The reappearance of these classical motifs is an act of cultural memory.