Vestry of the Church of St Stephen in Nijmegen 1850 - 1891

Curator: Here we have Johannes Bosboom's "Vestry of the Church of St Stephen in Nijmegen," created sometime between 1850 and 1891. It's an oil painting currently housed here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Wow, that light! It's muted, filtered, like something held in amber. It immediately gives me this feeling of solemnity. What grabs you first about this piece? Curator: I'm struck by how Bosboom captures the stillness of this space, this vestry. But more than that, how he manages to give you the feeling of being the only person who knows that it will soon change. It’s a genre scene, a glimpse of daily life imbued with, dare I say it, spiritual undertones. Editor: I agree; that stillness is tangible. The almost photographic composition directs my eyes, however. There is great geometry and symmetry here. It leads me to thinking, where does this church hierarchy fit within this socio-political schema? Bosboom presents us with clergymen that depend on laborers to prepare a very specific architectural construct to achieve a ritual. I like thinking of the building and painting almost as artifacts. Curator: And those figures in the vestry, caught in a moment of quiet discourse before or after service. To me, that quietude underscores a Romantic sensibility, you know? The emotion bubbling under the surface of the mundane. It’s a lovely push and pull to find in these Dutch interiors. The materials, however, that rich wood paneling—feel simultaneously solid and muted by time. Editor: Definitely. The materiality is what pulls me back into history. How did the carpenters learn this specific craftsmanship and were they of the region? What about those garments of the men, I'm sure wool was woven on looms and brought to the city in some exchange and sold by other tradesmen, I could get lost just pondering how it got here! Curator: Well, now you have given us the opportunity to explore even deeper those networks which hold the entire painting, together both as a piece and as part of its historical reality. Editor: Yes, all those craft processes... making the pigments to constructing the building itself. Bosboom just put all those actors in place. Curator: Exactly! Editor: All in all, those trades allowed an atmosphere of thoughtful peace for us to have a moment to meditate together, no? Curator: It makes me feel contemplative too, about time and labor. It makes one consider where the labor behind faith takes place!