Heilige met zeven engelen 1609 - 1660

Curator: The somber quality of this print, created by Giovanni Battista Vanni between 1609 and 1660, strikes me immediately. There is a rather profound contrast between the bright, radiating light behind the saint, and the dark swirling clouds. Editor: Indeed. And those cherubic figures. Vanni has achieved a dynamism with his engraving technique, it’s a rather excellent example of baroque sensibilities. Note the clear interest in the interplay of light and shadow. We are presenting a study of volumes and textures. Curator: Vanni clearly positions the Church and its holy figures at the center of society through works like "Heilige met zeven engelen" or "Saint with Seven Angels" as it translates from the original Dutch. Observe the angels attending to the Saint, with each figure deeply immersed in their dedicated role. These engravings were reproduced, purchased, and disseminated through the then Holy Roman Empire, thereby making these visual representations incredibly powerful for socio-political maneuvering. Editor: From a strictly formal perspective, it’s how Vanni manipulates line and texture, isn't it? The almost chaotic density of the clouds contrasts so strikingly with the smooth skin of the angels. The figures themselves display the baroque obsession with physicality, rendered beautifully in an engaging composition. Curator: The Baroque did make use of allegory to solidify social control by rendering the authority of powerful figures more concretely. But there is also an almost performative aspect: the poses are dramatic, intended to provoke an emotional response in the viewer, thus involving the viewer in a broader conversation, and this makes the act of image-making so very, very compelling. Editor: Quite so. And how this emotional impact echoes through time… What seemed a persuasive visual argument for baroque society, in our time inspires different feelings. From where I stand, it feels as though Vanni’s print serves more as a powerful exercise in how the medium of engraving captures the baroque style. Curator: Perhaps Vanni unwittingly foreshadowed our experience of images. What do we choose to carry from it, and how is it adapted, disseminated, and reconsidered, many years later? Editor: Precisely.