Prediking van Johannes de Doper 1535 - 1587

Editor: So, here we have “Preaching of John the Baptist,” made sometime between 1535 and 1587 by Giovanni Battista Fontana, in ink. It looks to me like an engraving. It has a pretty dramatic flair to it, almost theatrical with the way the figures are arranged in the foreground. What are your initial thoughts on this print? Curator: Well, first off, isn’t it interesting how a scene of supposed wilderness is so meticulously… composed? Giovanni Battista gives us wildness, sure, but one organized with very particular intellectual consideration, I think. Do you get the sense that Fontana is maybe hinting at something, playing with our expectations of piety in the wilds? Editor: Playing with expectations? That's interesting. It feels a little… stagey for a depiction of something so serious. Why would the artist do that, though? Curator: Perhaps to emphasize the performative aspect inherent in preaching, and perhaps, to make John more relatable to the crowds, more captivating. It is drama. And, by framing John like an actor, in essence, doesn’t it subtly make us question the… spontaneity of religious experience? Do you feel that at all? Editor: I see what you mean. The background looks less detailed, which kind of spotlights John, the speaker and his audience. I suppose that would focus on his message. Curator: Precisely! And aren’t we all on some stage, performing in some fashion or another? Perhaps Fontana, was suggesting, by the by, how blurry those lines between the sacred and the profane are? Editor: It makes you think about it. Seeing it framed that way definitely sheds new light on it. Curator: Agreed. Sometimes, art acts as that blurry mirror… Reflecting the world around us in surprising and strange ways.