Hemelvaart 1610 - 1676

Curator: Let’s spend some time with this engraving, simply titled “Hemelvaart,” or "Ascension" in English, created sometime between 1610 and 1676 by Marx Anton Hannas. It's an intaglio print, if you’d like to get up close and examine the fine lines the artist coaxed from the plate. Editor: Immediately I'm struck by the upwards thrust of the whole composition; everything's pointing heavenward. Even the clouds feel like steps on a grand staircase to… well, to that radiating figure at the top. Curator: Yes, the figure of Christ ascending is quite radiant. We see him above the apostles, a throng of faces all looking up with various expressions, witnessing his divine departure. Below, the earthly realm shrinks. Editor: Those faces! Such raw emotion, like catching a glimpse of something beyond understanding, yet tethered to something human like grief and awe. The visual language seems medieval, yet the dynamic rendering gives it a definite Baroque twist. That tension, the past and present woven together, it speaks volumes. It’s like they're watching a collective dream unfold. What’s that object at the lower foreground? Curator: That's the empty tomb, adorned with a symbol - an IHS monogram - which is a symbolic representation of the Holy Name. Its inclusion here adds layers, connecting the ascension to Christ's death and resurrection, which emphasizes the theological idea of triumph over mortality. Editor: The whole piece feels heavy with cultural memory, like a stage set for centuries of stories, beliefs, and yearnings. Those engravings aren’t just lines on paper, are they? Curator: Certainly not. Each stroke resonates with echoes of faith and human experience. Look closely, can’t you feel how this piece invites us to contemplate our place in the cosmos, to gaze upwards with our own brand of longing? Editor: Exactly. It reminds us how humans seek connection, both to the divine and to each other, how the images continue to evolve. I’m reminded that every viewing reinvents the initial creation! Curator: It's remarkable, isn’t it? These fleeting impressions are, perhaps, precisely the magic Hannas was hoping to capture.