Petrus en de andere apostelen worden door een engel bevrijd uit de gevangenis 1643 - 1646

Curator: This engraving, housed right here in the Rijksmuseum, is titled "Petrus en de andere apostelen worden door een engel bevrijd uit de gevangenis," or "Peter and the other apostles freed from prison by an angel," created sometime between 1643 and 1646. Editor: It’s got such a theatrical vibe, doesn’t it? All those bodies spilling across the steps, the looming architecture, the radiating angel! It's like divine intervention meets a Renaissance stage. Curator: Absolutely. We can locate the Baroque style in its dramatic use of light and shadow, as well as the heightened emotion etched on each figure’s face. Beyond its formal aspects, the print engages with themes of religious persecution and liberation. Peter's story is about power but also a statement of defiance against earthly authority. Editor: That's interesting... Defiance feels right, though, I can't shake the idea that everyone’s sort of crammed into their own little boxes—especially with those prison guards napping. Where is the feeling of shared suffering in that dramatic play, you know? Does it serve its story the best? Curator: I think the composition speaks to the ways in which power and control function, through isolating figures. Each character is captured in their separate experience of this monumental moment, from the drowsy guards unaware of the angel to the apostles themselves, caught between fear and relief. You feel both the common desire for liberty and the individuals confined by very particular oppressive structures. Editor: Hmm, that’s a persuasive argument—individual experiences contained in a shared setting of control. So that division works, I think. And the way the engraver depicts that burst of angelic light against the crosshatched darkness is divine, literally and figuratively. Curator: Indeed. This print opens up fascinating discussions about faith, resilience, and freedom within contexts that still reverberate today, centuries later. Editor: Well, whatever those apostles felt then, it gives me some pause now! It’s all quite striking, right down to the artist's elegant technical skill. I am so drawn into this narrative every time I experience this piece.