Evangelist 1665 - 1698

Curator: Oh, my goodness, talk about drama! The light, the beard, the floating. It’s intense. Editor: Indeed. What we’re looking at here is a print called ‘Evangelist’ by Johann Jakob von Sandrart, likely created sometime between 1665 and 1698. You can currently find it hanging out at the Rijksmuseum. Curator: 'Evangelist' – that title totally fits. But is it just me, or does he look a little… constipated? Like he’s about to deliver something far more taxing than the good news. Editor: Ha! Well, I think what you're sensing is the weight of his purpose rendered visually. Note the scrolls, almost crushed in his grip—they denote divine knowledge and authority, yet also suggest the burden of interpretation and transmission that comes with the territory. And he’s sitting on a cloud. Baroque art, everyone! Curator: That makes sense. You see it everywhere. I wonder about the choice of printmaking, though. Something so permanent immortalizing something so ephemeral? Editor: In Sandrart’s era, printmaking was pivotal for disseminating ideas and images broadly. By creating an engraving, this representation of the evangelist became much more widely accessible. It moves beyond a painting only viewable by the few to being an image that could travel and teach. Curator: Like, an early form of mass media? Cool. Makes you think about how we spread images today. Are our memes our modern-day evangelists? Spreading little nuggets of belief? Editor: Intriguing comparison. Perhaps all images function as carriers of cultural memory and values, constantly shifting and being re-interpreted. I would not see meme, but icons as a method of quick cultural consumption. Curator: Hmmm. You've definitely given me something to think about—art history meets meme culture. Wonderful. Editor: And hopefully, listeners will be just as curious after seeing the Evangelist! Thanks for joining me for this conversation.