Englen åbenbarer sig for Josef 1803

Editor: So, this monochromatic painting, "Englen åbenbarer sig for Josef" by Hans Hansen, was created in 1803. It’s housed here at the SMK. I’m struck by its… raw simplicity. What do you make of it? Curator: Well, let’s consider the materials and the means of production. It is a painting, an object of skilled labor. We might consider, what does it mean to depict a divine revelation using the materials and techniques available to Hansen in 1803? Was this a commission? The material reality of its creation shapes the spiritual message. Editor: So you are suggesting the very act of *making* such an image adds meaning, changes the impact? Curator: Exactly. Think about the cost of pigments, the canvas. Someone paid for this to be made. Consider Joseph himself, here depicted as a laborer – note the tools beside him. Editor: He does look worried, almost… working class? Curator: Precisely! Hansen chooses to represent a biblical figure not as an ethereal being, but as a tradesman. The labor of faith, perhaps, or a challenge to traditional artistic representations of divinity, and of the everyday man, and how the role of artistic representations reflected how they worked, and for whom, at the time. Editor: Interesting. So, beyond the religious narrative, the painting is also about the artist's, or patron's, social commentary? Curator: It hints at a commentary on labor and class, mediated through the act of painting itself, of employing these skills in this time. The “how” becomes intrinsic to the “why”. What did you learn? Editor: That materials and manufacture are always part of the message. Thank you!