Drie engelen 1772

Curator: Standing here at the Rijksmuseum, we’re looking at a print entitled "Drie Engelen," or "Three Angels," created in 1772 by Pieter Willem van Megen. It's an engraving depicting, as the title suggests, three angels. What's your initial take on it? Editor: A feeling of longing, certainly. Their gazes are all directed upwards, almost imploring. The soft, swirling lines of the engraving contribute to this sense of ethereal yearning, it gives a dreamy quality to this Baroque composition. Curator: I think that longing speaks directly to the cultural role of religious imagery in the 18th century. Prints like these, easily reproduced and disseminated, brought spiritual themes into the homes of everyday people, and made faith accessible through familiar, emotional images. Editor: Exactly! And consider the repetition of the raised hands, clasped in prayer. It's a universal gesture of supplication, something easily understood and personally relatable across different cultures and throughout history. Curator: The artistic style of the print is also relevant to consider. The engraver embraced the Baroque style but made religious imagery accessible and popularized through printmaking. Editor: Looking at the faces, the figures are presented in a sensitive way, their curly hair and drapery suggesting a certain innocence. Curator: I see it very much reflecting that trend. This print embodies the era’s aspiration of bringing divinity into the domestic sphere, transforming personal spaces into potential sites of reverence and faith. Editor: I leave with the idea of yearning and seeing echoes of that desire in many subsequent artistic representations of angelic beings, this one created by Van Megen back in 1772. Curator: A delicate convergence of accessible artistic method, the printing process, meeting the Baroque design which leaves us with such an endearing work to interpret, almost three centuries later!