Christus loopt over het water before 1700

Richard van Orley etched this work, Christus loopt over het water, presenting us with the biblical scene of Christ walking on water, while Peter, doubting, begins to sink. Notice the outstretched hand, a gesture laden with symbolic weight. In ancient Roman art, the adlocutio, depicts emperors addressing their troops, arm extended in a display of power and authority. Here, Christ's gesture, a continuous act of salvation, echoes that ancient motif but with a profound shift in meaning, extending from the divine to the human, offering not dominance but rescue. The motif of rescue is a powerful force. Consider the Laocoön group from antiquity, where figures are entangled in a struggle against overwhelming forces. This gesture of reaching out, of intervening, taps into our deepest fears and desires. The image speaks to our collective memory and subconscious processes. It is a powerful vision of faith tested and divine intervention.