Roeping van Matteüs Possibly 1705 - 1728

Matthijs Pool created this print of ‘The Calling of Matthew’ sometime between 1676 and 1740, rendering the biblical scene in ink on paper. Pool was working in the Dutch Republic during its Golden Age, when the Protestant church exerted a strong influence on social norms. The story of Matthew being called as a disciple would have resonated with Pool’s contemporaries. Matthew was a tax collector, an agent of the Roman Empire, and therefore regarded as a social outcast. Yet, Christ chose him. This image creates meaning by playing with the traditional visual codes of religious art. For example, the divine light which traditionally streams from the left has been replaced by open sky. Pool is less concerned with the miracle of salvation, and more with a moment of social transformation. The interpretation of art is never definitive, but a dialogue between the artist, the culture, and the historian, drawing on the social history of the Dutch Republic.