Jonge Christus tussen Maria en Jozef en boven hen Heilige Geest en God by Joan Berwinckel

Jonge Christus tussen Maria en Jozef en boven hen Heilige Geest en God

1590 - 1610

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Artwork details

Medium
print, ink, engraving
Dimensions
height 64 mm, width 44 mm
Copyright
Rijks Museum: Open Domain

Tags

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narrative-art

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print

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figuration

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11_renaissance

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ink

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line

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history-painting

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northern-renaissance

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engraving

About this artwork

This engraving presents the Holy Family, where the Christ Child, guided by Mary and Joseph, stands beneath the Holy Spirit and God the Father. Consider the dove, emblem of the Holy Spirit. It descends, connecting divine authority with the earthly realm, echoing the ancient symbol of the descending spirit or deity present across cultures, from Greek myths to early Gnostic traditions. God the Father, depicted above, recalls Zeus or Jupiter, the patriarchal sky-father, and is similarly presented as a bearded, wise, and authoritative figure, a representation that has evolved through diverse interpretations of power and divinity. The halos surrounding the figures denote sanctity, a visual language adopted by Christianity from earlier pagan and Roman art. Such symbols are not static; their meanings shift and re-emerge, reflecting our collective attempts to grasp the divine, a recurring dream across history.

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