The Virgin and Child with the Cat and the Snake, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1654
etching, h 95mm × w 144mm More details
This intimate scene is less ordinary than it seems. Rembrandt etches the Virgin holding her child in her arms, apparently cosily seated near the window. However, the snake slithering out from under her skirt has no place in a domestic idyll. The Virgin treading on the snake is a theological allusion that was understood at the time as foreshadowing Christ’s triumph over Satan.
