Moeder met kind knielend voor Maria en engelen 1809 - 1854

Willem Hendrik Franquinet made this drawing, "Mother with child kneeling before Maria and angels," using pen in gray ink. This devotional image reflects the revival of Catholic religious practice in the Netherlands after the Napoleonic era. We see a mother and child kneeling before the Virgin Mary who sits on a cloud. Angels hover around them. The iconography is traditional, but its cultural context is specific. The Netherlands had been a Protestant country since the 17th century, but in the 19th century, Catholicism experienced a resurgence. Artists like Franquinet found a ready market for religious images. The revival was partly a consequence of the end of French rule, but also a result of Rome's renewed focus on spreading the Catholic faith. Historical research into the archives of religious orders would tell us more about the market for Franquinet's art and about the place of images like these within the visual culture of the period.