Geestelijke met een bijbel Possibly 1670 - 1724

Curator: This is Jacob Gole's "Geestelijke met een bijbel," or "Cleric with a Bible," likely created somewhere between 1670 and 1724. What strikes you immediately? Editor: Oh, the face he’s pulling! It's fascinatingly grotesque – the way his features are exaggerated and seemingly contorted in distaste. He looks utterly repulsed by the bible itself. The material of the print gives it such an intense look! Curator: Right, Gole masterfully uses the engraving medium—that network of fine lines—to capture a kind of interior turmoil. Look at the positioning of the book, how he’s holding it away from himself. There's definitely a performative aspect at play here. It raises questions about the true feelings, not just toward religious texts, but societal expectation in general. Editor: I find the context here so rich. Printmaking in the Baroque period wasn't just about aesthetics; it was about dissemination, reproduction, the market! Consider the labor that went into producing this, etching the plate, making prints to be distributed... It speaks to how images themselves became commodities. The work’s themes of distaste become even more charged as they go mass scale. Curator: Absolutely. And the choice to depict him in this unflattering light might challenge the authority often associated with clergymen and religious institutions of the time. I also get a strong sense of...melancholy? It is really hard to tell for sure. Editor: Maybe... or perhaps defiance? He looks as though he wants to reject the values associated with such stricture, which ties to larger questions about consumption and pleasure, which were key for social change during the era! It challenges what 'spirituality' could and should be as concept and an expression! Curator: That's such an interesting point to take away – and it encourages one to re-evaluate these engravings that now live quietly in the Rijksmuseum in new ways. Editor: It gives me new insights into thinking about our era where visual information are becoming ever more important! I'd really encourage any visitor to dwell on the process and its ties to current making to really enhance engagement and meaning to their encounter.