Foltering: slaan van heiligen aan vier palen gebonden en scherpe punten 1565 - 1630

Curator: Welcome. We're standing before an engraving titled "Foltering: slaan van heiligen aan vier palen gebonden en scherpe punten", or "Torture: Beating Saints Bound to Four Posts and Sharp Points". This work, attributed to Antonio Tempesta, dates from between 1565 and 1630 and is held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Oh, my goodness. It’s so… graphic! The tightly rendered lines and stark contrast create this almost dizzying effect. It's brutal. It hits you right in the gut. It also kind of reminds me of something you might see in a fever dream. Curator: Indeed, Tempesta's masterful control of line creates a powerful image, even centuries later. Note how the composition leads the eye across the different stages of the martyrdom. The architecture in the background lends a sense of grand theater to the events unfolding, a kind of brutal stagecraft. We can understand the Mannerist influence. Editor: Right, you can't look away. The artist's hand… it's almost as if it's trembling across the plate. Look at the figures themselves! So contorted, so exaggerated in their muscularity and strain. It’s disturbing, but also... strangely beautiful? Like a twisted dance of violence and, maybe, transcendence? Curator: One could argue that this juxtaposition of violence and the sacred is quite deliberate. Consider how Tempesta utilizes the medium of engraving itself. The meticulous lines, the deliberate construction of space – everything underscores a highly controlled, yet undeniably disturbing, narrative. It asks us to confront not only the physical torment, but also the ideology that perpetrates it. Editor: That's it—ideology as spectacle. And Tempesta's given us front-row seats! You almost feel complicit in the scene, drawn in by its intensity. I’m thinking about that halo barely visible, like it's almost swallowed by all of the suffering happening. Haunting stuff. Curator: Yes, a complex and demanding work, reflecting the turbulent times of its creation. Editor: I agree. A reminder that even the most refined artistry can be used to express the darkest parts of the human experience. Food for thought, indeed.