Tekst over Pilatus die zijn handen in onschuld wast 1572

This text by Domenico Mancini presents a narrative about Pontius Pilate. It is a meditation on the gesture of washing one's hands, a symbolic act laden with significance. Pilate's washing of hands is rooted in the Old Testament, yet Mancini’s text is a cultural translation of this ancient ritual. Think of other moments when water is used to cleanse ritualistically, from baptism to purification rites in ancient Greece. The act is a potent symbol of disavowal, an attempt to cleanse oneself of moral responsibility. But the crowd's response, invoking a curse upon themselves and their descendants, suggests a shared guilt, a collective burden. This motif reappears throughout history, each time subtly altered, its meaning refracted through the lens of different cultures and eras. The image speaks to a universal human desire to evade responsibility. The gesture of absolution becomes a haunting reminder of our inescapable entanglement in the web of human actions. The psychological weight of guilt is not so easily washed away.