Heilige Familie 1524 - 1575

Editor: This engraving, titled "Heilige Familie" or "Holy Family," is attributed to Battista Angolo del Moro and dates back to somewhere between 1524 and 1575, placing it firmly in the Italian Renaissance. There’s a striking contrast between the clean lines and the busy scene. I find the arrangement of figures fascinating… it feels both balanced and a little chaotic. What are your impressions? Curator: I'm immediately drawn to how this print communicates a powerful sense of lineage and legacy through its composition. Notice how the artist has placed the bathing child centrally, a potent symbol of new beginnings and purification. It recalls earlier visual traditions of baptism and cleansing. What kind of meaning might baptism have at this time? Editor: Possibly, the purification of sin… a fresh start. But that door looming behind, what’s with that? Curator: Ah, a liminal space. Note the inscription above. "MAG INVENT. IVL. ROM." Roughly translated "Great Invention of Julius in Rome." Perhaps pointing towards an artist from the circle of Giulio Romano, hinting to its place of artistic creation. It serves as both a background and a symbolic threshold. Consider its visual weight – it seems to suggest that faith, renewal and birth are happenings within and framed by tradition, in this instance artistic traditions of the time. How does that doorway impact your perception now? Editor: That's compelling, framing faith and tradition, giving artistic weight… I see that connection now. Thanks, I now see a deliberate interplay between the immediacy of birth and baptism and the enduring power of tradition. Curator: Exactly, it highlights that images themselves carry cultural memory and continuity, offering insights into the artist's, and our, relationship with faith and history.