Minneapolis Institute of Art

Plate 2, from The Song of Solomon

Claes Janz. Visscher II; after Maarten de Vos

Date

1643

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The scene takes place in a garden surrounded by a balustrade, an enclosed garden symbolizing purity untainted by the ways of the world. Here Christ meets his bride, an allegorial figure of the Catholic Church (or perhaps simple Faith) .They stand beneath a fruit-bearing tree. It is as if the union of Christ and the Church will undo the chaos that followed Adam and Eve's consumption of the fruit in the Garden of Eden. To the left is a priest holding the tablets of God's law. Another man holds a goat, a symbol of sacrifice, here probably alluding to the Crucifixion. To the right is Solomon with his entourage. Netherlands, Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.