Kandelaar met doornenkroon, portret van Christus en twee putti 1714

This is Maximilian Joseph Limpach’s ‘Candlestick with Crown of Thorns, Portrait of Christ, and Two Putti’ made as an engraving. The image speaks to the cultural and religious life of its time. In post-reformation Europe, the Catholic church utilized images to reassert its power and influence. The engravings served as visual tools in the service of Counter-Reformation piety. We can observe the image's meaning through visual codes and historical associations. Angels holding a portrait of Christ are placed on an ornate candlestick. This is more than mere decoration. By understanding the institutional history, such as the system of religious patronage, we can start to unravel the image's meaning. The crown of thorns reminds us of Christ’s suffering and the putti are figures drawn from classical antiquity, often used in the Renaissance era to represent religious ecstasy. Historians can use resources, such as church records, to understand this artwork better and learn about the social and institutional contexts of the period.