Heilige Posthumius als kluizenaar met engel 1644

This is Christoffel van Sichem the Younger's woodcut depicting Saint Posthumius as a hermit, made in the Netherlands in the 17th century. It shows the saint kneeling in prayer in his isolated cave, with an angel at his side bearing sustenance. The image reflects a fascination with hermeticism and monasticism common in the Catholic Netherlands at this time, a theme which was also explored through emblem books and prints. The politics of imagery in the 17th century was tied to complex religious identities. Sichem’s print speaks to the Catholic Counter-Reformation, reaffirming the importance of saints, hermits and angels, whose significance had been downplayed by Protestants. Understanding this print requires historical research, looking into the symbolic language of religious iconography and the social conditions that shaped artistic production in the early modern Netherlands. Through such investigation, we recognize that art is deeply embedded in its time.