Gezicht op de kerk en het kerkhof van Saints-Innocents 1650

Israel Silvestre made this print of the Church and Cemetery of the Holy Innocents in Paris sometime in the mid-17th century. It offers a glimpse into the social and cultural history of death in early modern Europe. The image shows a bustling cemetery in the heart of the city. Bodies were stacked in mass graves, and the open-air space doubled as a marketplace and meeting place. Silvestre's print invites us to consider the changing attitudes toward death and burial in 17th-century Paris. The cemetery was a communal space, but it was also a site of social and political tension. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions led to public health concerns and debates about the proper way to dispose of the dead. This print may have been intended to document the conditions of the cemetery and to advocate for reform. By consulting parish records, city ordinances, and other archival sources, historians can reconstruct the social and institutional contexts of works like this, shedding light on the complex relationship between art, society, and the politics of representation.