Wonderen verricht door Christus 1590 - 1622

Editor: We're looking at "Wonderen verricht door Christus," or "Miracles Performed by Christ," an engraving made sometime between 1590 and 1622 by Boëtius Adamsz. Bolswert. It’s currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. I'm immediately struck by how much is happening; it feels like a comic strip, telling multiple stories at once. What draws your eye when you look at this, what stories are unfolding for you? Curator: Ah, yes! It's a visual feast, isn't it? What I adore is the layering. Bolswert’s taken these separate miracles and woven them into one scene, much like how memories themselves tend to overlap. There's Christ healing Simon's mother-in-law in that intimate bedchamber, and then, boom, over here we see a fisherman kneeling before Christ...Did he just haul in a miraculous catch? And the third miracle seems to be taking place behind that very doorway in the same continuous space… Or are these different parts of a journey? Look at how line directs the eye – chaotic, yes, but deliberately so. Each scene seems to spill into the next. And there, beneath it all, some latin. Almost a clue. Editor: A journey… that's a cool way to put it! So, the apparent chaos is actually…intentional? Curator: I’d argue, yes. Think of it as a tapestry of faith, capturing the relentless nature of belief. Each act of wonder leads directly into another. The lines aren't just lines; they are the connective tissues binding this world of faith together, pulsing from that singular moment of salvation, out and up, through the artwork. So what have we uncovered here? What feelings do we experience looking at this? Editor: I now see less chaos and more interconnection. A flowing narrative, not just fragmented scenes. The artist definitely intended for the viewers to get lost in each miracle. The effect becomes mesmerizing once you allow for it to unfold like this, like time itself. Curator: Exactly. Perhaps that's Bolswert’s lasting enchantment: his quiet command of the wild moment, and then gifting us with these windows into the intimate miracles of time and space!