Prediking van de heilige Norbertus 1622

Cornelis Galle I created this engraving of Saint Norbert preaching sometime between 1600 and 1650. Galle was from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands, and he made this print as part of a series about Norbert of Xanten, the founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons. As a print, this image would have been relatively cheap and easily disseminated. So its political function would have been to promote the values of the Catholic Church in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Norbert is preaching outside a grand building, possibly a cathedral. He's standing on a small set of steps, which makes him physically elevated above his audience. He is preaching to people of different ages and social classes. It's a very theatrical composition. It suggests that Norbert's message has broad appeal. To understand this image fully, we might research the history of the Counter-Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands, the biography of Saint Norbert, and the prints that Galle made during his career. This artwork speaks to the complex interaction of religion and politics in the early modern period.