Christus geneest een bezetene 1746

Louis Fabritius Dubourg made this drawing of Christ healing a possessed man with pen in brown ink sometime in the 18th century. We see Jesus calmly approaching a tormented man, while onlookers gesticulate wildly. This depiction of divine intervention speaks to the period's deep religious faith in the Dutch Republic, but also hints at anxieties about social order. The "possessed" man is an outcast, set apart from the community. Religious art in this era often served to reinforce social norms, presenting clear distinctions between the righteous and the damned. Institutions like the church and charitable organizations played a central role in caring for the marginalized, but also in regulating behavior. To fully understand this drawing, we can look at sermons, pamphlets, and other visual materials from the period. These resources shed light on the complex relationship between faith, social control, and the representation of deviance in 18th-century Dutch society.