Huwelijk van Tobias en Sara 1645 - 1646

Editor: Here we have "Marriage of Tobias and Sarah," a print made around 1645-1646 by Christoffel van Sichem the Younger, currently residing in the Rijksmuseum. I’m struck by the formality of the scene, almost theatrical in its staging. The linear detail is amazing, considering it’s a print. What strikes you about this image? Curator: It’s interesting that you mention theatricality. Consider the historical context. During this period, art often served as a public display of morality, especially regarding marriage. The story of Tobias and Sarah, a biblical tale of overcoming adversity and finding pious union, would have been widely recognized and celebrated. How might the print's composition reinforce the social values associated with marriage? Editor: Well, the central figures are very deliberately placed and physically joined; the man with his right hand extended, joining palms with the lady next to him. Then the rest of the figures sort of symmetrically flank them on either side. That seems to say something. Curator: Exactly. Think about the role prints played in disseminating these values. They were relatively accessible, weren't they? Reaching a broader audience than paintings. What implications does that have for the artwork's social function? Editor: So it's less about individual artistic expression and more about communicating established beliefs to the masses? Like visual propaganda, in a way? Curator: To some extent, yes. Although Sichem likely added his own stylistic interpretations. Consider the detail he uses, the heavy, nearly unbalanced focus to the left and right in contrast to the very sparse interior of the repeating archways above, how does that fit, or perhaps *unfit*, expectations in the visual rhetoric of 17th-century marriage ideals? Editor: It highlights those elements and asks us to consider them beyond a literal telling. It's been so interesting thinking about how art shapes our ideas of social expectations! Curator: Precisely, seeing art through this lens can completely transform how we engage with it.