Die Krankenheilung am Teich von Bethesda c. 1600

Ferraù Fenzoni’s "The Healing of the Paralytic at Bethesda," now at the Städel Museum, presents a scene rendered in the immediacy of ink on paper, where gesture and form take precedence. The composition swirls around the figure of Christ, whose outstretched hand seems to conduct the chaos into a moment of miraculous order. The figures are delineated with nervous, energetic lines. Fenzoni's drawing embodies a complex interplay of form and narrative. The figures, caught in various states of suffering and supplication, are rendered with a raw, almost brutal honesty. The artist’s formal choices—the dynamic lines, the spatial ambiguities—reflect a world in flux. Do the artist's structural disruptions mirror a time of questioning traditional beliefs, or do they represent the inherent instability of human existence? Perhaps Fenzoni’s lines reveal not just a scene, but a deeper interrogation of faith and form.