Expulsion from Paradise 1696 - 1721

Curator: This print, titled "Expulsion from Paradise," created sometime between 1696 and 1721, and currently held in the Rijksmuseum collection, visualizes a pivotal scene from the Bible. It's attributed to Jan Baptist Berterham. Editor: My immediate impression is chaos, even a sort of frantic energy. The dense, swirling lines create a visual turmoil. What stands out is the stark contrast between the relatively clear foreground and the tumultuous background. Curator: Exactly, Berterham captures the sheer upheaval of the Fall. Beyond the dramatic artistry, the image reveals much about the 17th-century socio-religious anxieties, specifically concerning transgression and divine punishment. Look how Adam and Eve are driven out under the watchful, threatening eyes of divine justice. Editor: I agree about the chaos, but note how precisely Berterham uses the line. Look at the rendering of musculature on the figures of Adam and Eve, and the angel - It's quite precise and adds a sculptural quality, considering it’s an engraving. There is this attention to detail juxtaposed to the general chaos as if even a divine moment demands attention to craft. Curator: True, it mirrors the Baroque sensibilities. However, consider also the piece's function within a society where religious imagery held enormous cultural weight. Prints like these circulated widely, disseminating moral lessons but also subtly reinforcing existing power structures. The print's impact resides not just in its form, but how it perpetuated theological views on disobedience, original sin and its consequence. Editor: You are spot on, this interplay of light and shadow, and the dynamic poses, work effectively to evoke that tension between divine authority and human frailty. Berterham truly shows how the engraver's mark and the engraver's cultural moment can be held in productive tension. Curator: Thinking about this, this print reflects a wider societal reckoning during the Baroque period, a moment of intense self-reflection after The Reformation. The expulsion isn’t merely a biblical tale; it embodies broader anxieties of cultural, theological upheaval in society and the art of the moment. Editor: I've been focused on the dramatic visual construction of it all, it seems like a worthwhile challenge to remember and reflect on that socio-historical component to help decode not just what we see, but what viewers saw then and continue to see now.