Portret van Peter Philippi 1659

Kaspar Schultze created this portrait of Peter Philippi using engraving. Look at Philippi holding a book, a symbol deeply rooted in cultural and religious contexts. The book signifies knowledge, wisdom, and divine revelation. We see its echoes across time, from ancient Egyptian scrolls representing sacred knowledge to illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. Consider the Renaissance, where the book became a symbol of humanism and the rediscovery of classical wisdom. Think of the emotional weight carried by this object: the comfort of knowledge, the authority of the written word. It reflects our collective yearning for understanding, knowledge, and perhaps a deeper connection to the divine. It is a motif which has traversed through art history, continually reinvented, and charged with new layers of meaning.