Heilige Familie met Elisabet en Johannes de Doper als kind 1600 - 1620

Curator: This print, housed here at the Rijksmuseum, is called "The Holy Family with Elizabeth and John the Baptist as a Child," dating back to sometime between 1600 and 1620. The artist behind this engraving is Jacob Matham. What are your initial thoughts on this piece? Editor: There's an incredibly intimate quality to it, a certain vulnerability almost. The light feels very concentrated, as if revealing some deeply held secret. Everyone seems so still and contained; it gives off a solemn, hushed feeling. Curator: That's a great point, especially when you consider the conventions of depicting the Holy Family at this time. Jacob Matham employs line engraving to really give texture and weight, the density of marks used almost sculptural in its effect. Have you noticed how everyone's connected through gaze and gesture? Editor: Exactly! Notice the lamb near the base of the circular composition – the 'Agnus Dei,' another common symbol for sacrifice. Also, Elizabeth's downcast eyes and clasped hands... she appears almost to be dozing but with an apprehensive mood... There's such weight in the implied narrative. Curator: Absolutely! Matham is invoking a history-painting while employing many stylistic features also evident in portraiture and group portraiture styles that can be found elsewhere at the Rijksmuseum. But, even beyond these common tropes, you perceive such sadness? Editor: Not entirely, but in its stillness, yes, there's the acknowledgment of impending sorrow woven into the depiction of this intimate scene, as much joy and familial closeness we might see. Curator: Well, thinking about the density of lines, this baroque visual representation makes the whole seem much like pencil drawings with each individual carefully detailed with great consideration and grace! Editor: Looking again, I agree. I appreciate how these figures from biblical lore seem surprisingly real, approachable even. Thanks for this close examination. I can certainly consider and reconsider the many meanings this artist sought to capture.