Maria met het Christuskind en Johannes de Doper 1601 - 1650

This engraving depicts Mary with the Christ Child and John the Baptist. Notice the grapes that the children playfully offer, a motif laden with symbolism. Grapes have long been associated with both earthly abundance and divine sacrifice. In classical antiquity, they represented fertility and pleasure, linked to Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry. Yet, within the Christian context, grapes take on a deeper significance: they foreshadow the Eucharist, the wine symbolizing the blood of Christ, shed for humanity's salvation. This duality encapsulates the complex interplay between pleasure and pain, mortality and redemption. We see this cyclical progression echoed throughout art history: from ancient Roman mosaics depicting bacchanalian feasts to Renaissance paintings where the infant Christ clutches grapes, a subtle premonition of his fate. This image taps into our collective memory, stirring subconscious associations that resonate across centuries, reminding us that symbols are never static, but constantly evolving through culture.