Genezing van een verlamde 1598 - 1618

Editor: So, here we have “Healing of the Paralytic,” an engraving from sometime between 1598 and 1618 by Jan Collaert the Younger, currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. There’s so much going on. The emotion, the composition— it almost feels theatrical, you know? What jumps out at you when you look at this print? Curator: Oh, the theatricality, spot on! It's pure Mannerism—that deliberate distortion and drama for emotional impact. My eyes dart all over the place. Look at those figures lowering the paralytic through the roof! And the expressions—some awestruck, others skeptical, even a little bored. Jan Collaert really captured a whole range of human reactions to the miraculous. What do you think Collaert is trying to say? Editor: It seems pretty straightforward--it is about faith, right? Curator: Maybe... or maybe about spectacle. The drama IS heightened by that little play happening up in the roof! Consider this: printmaking at the time was about mass communication, not just religious devotion. So Collaert, with this style, appeals to your emotions. It's the Mannerist era version of clickbait, drawing in viewers, isn't it? Editor: Clickbait! I never thought about it like that! That is super cool. Now that you mention that detail on the ceiling, this makes much more sense than what I initially understood. I really have to go back and reconsider those Mannerist artworks I quickly passed through. Curator: Absolutely! This artwork can speak to our understanding of art and audience back then.