Schoorsteenveger 1628 - 1648

Jan Matham's engraving presents us with a chimney sweep, his face darkened with soot, tools of his trade slung over his shoulder. The chimney sweep, an archetype found across cultures, occupies a space between the domestic and the dangerous. Consider the broom he carries: in folklore, the broom is not merely a tool for cleaning but a potent symbol. In Northern Europe, it was connected to rituals, and seen as a vehicle for nightly flights. Here, the broom suggests purification, but also hints at deeper, more primal associations. The soot covering the sweep's face is not just dirt; it's a mask, blurring the line between man and something more elemental. This image is a distant echo of ancient rituals, where figures adorned in masks acted as intermediaries between worlds. Matham's chimney sweep is not merely a worker; he is a figure steeped in the collective memory of transformation and purification. The symbol is not linear, but cyclical, as the meaning changes through history.