Staand engeltje 1630 - 1652

Editor: This is "Standing Angel" by Pieter van Avont, an engraving dating from around 1630 to 1652. There’s a delicate, almost chubby cherubic figure pointing upwards. What's your take on it? Curator: He's charming, isn't he? What strikes me is the vulnerability captured in that roundness, those exposed limbs. It speaks of an innocence, yet there's a definite baroque flamboyance in the curls of his hair and the confident gesture. A delicious combination. Does he make you smile? Editor: He does! He looks like he's about to get into trouble, even with those little wings. Why depict an angel in such an ordinary way? Curator: Exactly! Here's an angel pulled from the celestial realm and grounded – delightfully, almost clumsily – into the everyday. Van Avont offers a refreshing take, defying expectations of idealized forms with his darling chubster. Perhaps he invites us to find the sacred in the ordinary? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. Seeing him as a symbol of finding holiness in ordinary things is lovely. What would people at the time have thought of that idea? Curator: I think it depends who you asked! There’s an earthiness to his work, don’t you think? Maybe it challenged rigid ideas and rigid body images of religious imagery and artistic representations of cherubs at that time? Editor: Absolutely! It’s still fun hundreds of years later. It’s nice to have something new to appreciate! Curator: Right? And a chubby angel feels like exactly what we need right now.