Jozef rijdt op een wagen door Egypte Possibly 1705 - 1728

Curator: The texture—achingly etched into being! What’s your gut feeling on this tableau? Editor: Impressive display of hierarchy and…submission, perhaps? All those figures prostrated before the passing chariot… the horses strain under the weight of it all, quite literally I suspect, in terms of the metal plate wearing down from repeated strokes. Curator: We’re gazing at “Jozef rijdt op een wagen door Egypte,” which roughly translates to Joseph riding a chariot through Egypt. It’s believed Jan van Vianen created this print sometime between 1705 and 1728. What grips me is the theatrical flair—those gestures, those buildings practically bursting from the scene. Editor: That baroque extravagance you mention surely speaks to the intended audience. Prints like this were circulated, consumed, and reused. So, who would be looking at Joseph as some foreign dignitary receiving adulation and why? Curator: Think of the symbolic resonance of Joseph’s journey and triumph over adversity, themes readily embraced in the baroque. Van Vianen's ability to transform a biblical narrative into this scene of grand pageantry—it's almost cinematic in its scope. Editor: True, but don’t let that drama overshadow the sheer labor in creating an image like this. Imagine the artisan hunched over a copper plate, pushing against that burin all day, translating an ideal, through material realities, to propagate certain views in early modern Europe. Curator: It really makes you appreciate how stories and ideologies take material shape— etched, printed, consumed… Editor: Precisely! These objects—these prints—were anything but neutral. Curator: Thanks to the skill and care involved in production, each scene like this also opens this fascinating door onto a long-gone era. Editor: And exposes, quite explicitly, the mechanisms of its power. A compelling visual statement that gets one to thinking, even centuries later.