{"id":3018,"date":"2024-06-19T15:45:51","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T13:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rubens-antwerpen.be\/home\/south\/st-andrews-church\/saint-andrews-pulpit\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T17:39:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:39:21","slug":"saint-andrews-pulpit","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rubens-antwerpen.be\/en\/home\/south\/st-andrews-church\/saint-andrews-pulpit\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Andrews: Pulpit"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A pulpit from the 19th century: J.F. van Geel J.B. van Hool<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And [Jesus] said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. <\/em>
(Mt. 4: 19-20)<\/p>\n

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This liturgical piece of furniture shows us how an artist, who combines ‘realism-with-emotion’ can drag you into a story, even before the preacher has uttered a single word.<\/p>\n

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It is a pulpit was made out of wood in 1821. The sculptor was Jan Frans Van Geel and Jan Baptist Van Hool was the carpenter. The scene depicts (ad vivum<\/em> \u2013 from life) the vocation of two apostles, Andreas and his brother Peter, by profession fishermen in the Sea of Galilee.<\/p>\n

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The life-size characters and the props of the story are almost tangible: the boat, the oars, the nets, the fish, the lobster, the crab. As a theatrical d\u00e9cor, there is a rock formation in the background, which is overgrown with plants and which rises up to the sounding board through a tree trunk.<\/p>\n

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Painters have to suggest the third, spatial dimension through light and shadow. But here this spatial element comes to us in a hyper-realistic way. In art, Jesus can hardly come any closer to the people than he is here.<\/p>\n

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Finally, the depicting of the expressive hands evokes a fourth dimension, time, a message across the centuries; it is the divine invitation “Come, follow me<\/em>“. Before our eyes both brothers, while engaged in their busy activities, are experiencing a radical change in their lives. Also we, the spectators, are invited to reflect on the meaning of vocation in our lives.<\/p>\n