Abstract
Summary In the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James there is a most singular interlude (18:2), during which everything comes, literally speaking, to a standstill. After having installed the Virgin in a cave near Betlehem, Joseph went out to look for a midwife. Suddenly he “both went and did not go about”, and a group of labourers, gathered around a cauldron, had stopped chewing and eating, all of them now looking into the sky. Even the goats and sheep had ceased to move, and their shepherd stood there motionless with his arm raised. Then, just as suddenly, everything started to move again. This is very much how every picture appears–before we intervene as beholders and set in train the activities shown. We accept Joseph taking just one step, knowing that only through our imagination will he move on within the scenery. Nevertheless, stillness and silence are qualities we seek and appreciate in certain pictures, whereas the composition and execution of others invite us to indulge in their suggestions of moti...
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