Christus geneest de zieken after 1727

This engraving by Louis Desplaces depicts Christ healing the sick, capturing a moment rife with potent symbols. Christ, at the heart of the composition, extends his hand in a gesture of benediction, an act resonating with ancient traditions of divine touch as cure. Consider the raised hands of the supplicants; this is not merely a plea for help, but a visual echo of gestures found in pagan antiquity, where outstretched arms invoked the gods. Yet, here, the gesture finds new purpose, imbued with Christian hope. The motif of healing resurfaces throughout history, from the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, whose touch could bring both plague and cure, to the Greek god Asclepius, whose temples were sanctuaries for the ill. Note how the emotional intensity of suffering is vividly rendered, a powerful, visceral connection between the viewer and the depicted scene. Ultimately, Desplaces' image reminds us that symbols are never static, that they continually evolve, accumulating layers of meaning as they traverse time.