Maria als koningin met Christuskind 1661 - 1684

Curator: Gaspar Huybrechts created this print titled "Maria als koningin met Christuskind" sometime between 1661 and 1684. The medium here is engraving. Editor: This print makes me feel like I've stumbled into a very elaborate, somewhat overgrown, garden shrine. It’s like Baroque wallpaper come to life, complete with cherubic toddlers struggling with an overflowing cornucopia of fruit. Curator: Right, the allegorical and historical painting references here work within the Baroque style popular at the time. I find it interesting how the use of engraving transforms a potentially ornate scene into a series of sharp, almost architectural lines. What materials and tools would Huybrechts have been working with? What kind of workshop created this image? Was this a single artisan toiling alone, or was this one contribution to a factory-like print shop, feeding a hunger for religious art? Editor: Good point! You've made me think more about the labour and process behind this. The contrast creates such an unexpected texture... It feels both grand and strangely intimate, as though the artist captured some deeply personal moment amid all the symbolic flourishes. And that fruit…is it real fruit, or stand-ins for something more profound? Maybe that contrast you mentioned speaks to a larger tension around how labor is transformed, offered up almost, to achieve divinity or sacred meaning in rendering the ordinary world. Curator: Precisely! The reproductive capacity of prints is important too, as they are much easier to acquire than painting. Prints create new economies, supporting artisans, shipping networks, and all kinds of supporting industries. Editor: Seeing the little cherubs makes the overall experience almost... joyful, but, they're straining to lift these fruits, they’re actually WORKING with matter in the real world! I'll leave with that thought—a Baroque garden powered by labor. Curator: An important reflection indeed, these considerations give rise to an interesting perspective when observing Huybrechts’ work.