1725
De doop van Christus
Louis Fabritius Dubourg
1693 - 1775Location
RijksmuseumListen to curator's interpretation
Curatorial notes
Louis Fabritius Dubourg created this drawing of the Baptism of Christ using pen and brown ink. Here, the act of baptism signifies not just a ritual, but a profound transition, an awakening. Water, the essence of life, becomes a conduit for spiritual rebirth, washing away the old to make way for the new. Consider the recurring motif of the river. We see it not only in Christian iconography, but also echoed in ancient Greek myths with the River Styx, a boundary between worlds. Water symbolizes transformation, a journey into the unknown, resonating deeply within our collective psyche. The river, emotionally charged, has resurfaced time and again, evolving from a symbol of death to one of purification, revealing the complex, cyclical progression of cultural symbols and human experiences.