Evangelisten en apostelen 1800 - 1833

Philippus Jacobus Brepols created this print, "Evangelisten en apostelen", using lithography. The composition presents a grid of oval portraits, each depicting a saint. The limited color palette—primarily red, yellow, and blue—creates a striking visual rhythm across the sheet, and the arrangement emphasizes a structured, almost taxonomic presentation of religious figures. This work's power resides in its interplay of form and content, as the composition is structured to suggest a systematized depiction of faith. The simple, almost abstract rendering of each figure prompts a focus on the structural elements of color and shape, rather than narrative detail. The reduction of each apostle and evangelist to basic chromatic components challenges conventional religious iconography. In this way, Brepols invites a semiotic reading, where color and composition become signs, destabilizing established meanings and prompting new ways of engaging with religious representation.