Wijwaterbak met de Heilige Familie c. 1677 - 1692

Franz Ertinger created this print of a holy water font with the Holy Family sometime in the 17th century. At the center of the image, we see the Virgin Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus and John the Baptist. This tender scene of familial piety is surrounded by elaborate ornamentation in the Baroque style. Angels peek out of leafy garlands and classical masks embellish the basin of the font. Prints like this one, made in the Netherlands, often served as models for artisans. A silversmith, for example, might have used Ertinger’s print as inspiration for a three-dimensional holy water font to be placed in the home. The Baroque style itself was closely associated with the Catholic Church, and particularly with the Counter-Reformation. To understand the print fully, a social historian would want to understand the market for domestic religious objects. How did images like this help to stabilize norms around family life? Research into workshop production practices and the history of the print trade would no doubt reveal more.