Transfiguratie (bovendeel) 1680

Simon Thomassin etched this image, Transfiguration, sometime before 1733. The scene depicts a radiant Christ levitating above the prophets Moses and Elijah, with the apostles Peter, James, and John in awe below. Consider the upraised hands of Christ; this gesture, resonating through time, first appears as an 'orant' in early Christian art, signifying prayer and divine communion. Yet, it echoes even earlier invocations in ancient pagan rituals, adapted to express a connection to the divine, embodying spiritual ecstasy and revelation. The transfixed apostles cowering from the divine light, remind us of the psychological impact of witnessing the sublime, a motif that surfaces throughout art history to reflect the overwhelming power of the divine. This raw emotional display mirrors humanity's eternal grappling with the intangible, the sacred, and the quest for meaning. It conveys a primal recognition of forces beyond human comprehension, a feeling that has reverberated across cultures and epochs.