Allegory of the God and Evil (The Mirror of Virtu)
| Reference: | S30955 |
| Author | Jaen P. SAENREDAM |
| Year: | 1600 ca. |
| Measures: | 528 x 375 mm |
€5,500.00
| Reference: | S30955 |
| Author | Jaen P. SAENREDAM |
| Year: | 1600 ca. |
| Measures: | 528 x 375 mm |
€5,500.00
Description
Engraving, circa 1600, signed at lower center. After Cornelis Ketel. Example of the third state of four, before the address of Laurentius. A fine impression, printed on contemporary laid paper, trimmed to the platemark or with small margins, 2 small horizontal paper folds, otherwise in good condition.
This superb monumental print, rich in allegoric detail, already impressed Saenredam’s contemporaries, confirming his position as one of the most outstanding artistic personalities in Goltius’s circle. In his biography of Cornelis Ketel, for instance, Carel van Mander dedicated a full description to this print, referring to it as the “Deughtspiegel” (Mirror of Virtue).
The Latin title lettered in the print Naturae seguitur semina quisque suae can be translated as: “Everyone follows the seed of his own nature”. A detailed interpretation of this academic and iconographically complex image would be too ambitious in the context of a brief catalogue entry, but it is nonetheless possible to address the underlying theme of the image.
A personification of Beneficentia /Charity) can be seen at the center of the composition, flanked by Gratitude and Ingratitude. The accompanying inscriptions provide further clues to the iconographic program represented here, Two snakes, angrily biting each other, are wound around the right leg of the male personification of Ingratitude, while the left knee rests on a skull. In the right foreground lies a coffin with the inscription - Mors.Oblivio - . The imagery suggests that forgetting an act of kindness is no less terrible than death. The female figure see piously kneeling on the left points to an opposite scenario. She is fully aware of the kindness shown to her as confirmed by the obelisk behind her that is inscribed - Aet(ernis) M(emoria) - . The good natured lion at the feet of the Beneficentia, who has made friends with a small dog, as well as a mouse, that is shown balancing on a rope, to which the king of the animals is bound, are further attributes of gratitude. The main scene is set in a richly decorated allegorical frame. On the right is the many breasted Diana and Ephesos, seen giving birth to a child, identified as – Malignitas – (Evil Nature) according to the inscription. On the left, Apollo assists a young woman as she gives birth to – Bona indoles – (Good Nature) and breathes life into the innocent newborn.
Lettered with the title above. Surmounting the mirror a cartouche with "INGRATIS SERVIRE NEFAS / Non perit, bonis quod fit bene". Below in a cartouche two columns of text by P.Hogerbeets. Below the central image "CKetel Inven. et figurivit I Saenred. sculp. JRazet divulgavit.".
A related drawing by Ketel in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (see K.G. Boon, 'Netherlandish drawings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries', The Hague 1978, no. 328). See also H. van Os, J. P. Filedt Kok, G.Luijten and F.Scholten, 'Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum 1400-1600', Amsterdam 2000, pp. 205-206. The print is known in editions with letterpress explanation in German and in Dutch/French.
Literature
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Bartsch 106, Hollstein 114 III (of IV). Dimensioni 528 x 375.
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Jaen P. SAENREDAM (Zaandam 1565 - Assendelft 1607)
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Jan Pieterszoon Saenredam (1565 – 6 April 1607) was a Dutch Northern Mannerist painter, printmaker in engraving, and cartographer, and father of the painter of church interiors, Pieter Jansz Saenredam. He is noted for the many allegorical images he created from classical mythology and the Bible. Saenredam was born in Zaandam. As an orphan Jan lived with his uncle, Pieter de Jongh, a bailiff in Assendelft who first sent him to learn basket weaving as a profession. Being an apt student, he was taught reading and writing, but astonished his teachers when he proved already so accomplished in this that he decorated his texts with curled decorations. An example of his penmanship could once be seen on display at Assum House near Heemskerk (residence of the Lord of Assendelft), which was his copywork of the ten commandments. Despite a decision that he follow a career in a trade or farming, he showed such artistic talent that he started as an apprentice cartographer. His first map is dated 1589 and is of the province of Holland, which could be seen in the city book of Guiccardijn (referring to a 1593 work by Lodovico Guicciardini called The Description of the Low Countries). He was visited by a lawyer called Spoorwater tot Assendelft, who convinced his guardian to let him apply his gift, and thus young Saenredam was sent to learn drawing from Hendrick Goltzius in Haarlem, where he became a master at the age of 24 (in 1589).
After working for some time with Goltzius, he encountered the almost inevitable professional rivalry and jealousy, prompting his departure to work in Amsterdam for two years. He then returned to Assendelft where he married and set up his own workshop. His first engraving was of the 12 apostles after a drawing by Karel van Mander. He produced prints after Goltzius, Abraham Bloemaert, Cornelis van Haarlem, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and his own invention. He made over 170 plates of which the last one was a history of Diana and Callisto by Paulus Moreelse in 1606.
Two plates he was working on, after drawings by Bartholomeus Spranger and Willem Thibaut, were finished later by Jacob Matham.
According to the Rijksmuseum, he returned in 1595 from Amsterdam to Assendelft, where he married Anna Pauwelsdochter. Jan left his wife a sizeable estate as a result of lucrative investments in the Dutch East India Company. He died of typhus on April 6, 1607 and was buried in the choir of the Saint Adolphus church at Assendelft, with the gravestone inscription Ioannis Saenredam Sculptoris celeberrimi.
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Literature
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Bartsch 106, Hollstein 114 III (of IV). Dimensioni 528 x 375.
|
Jaen P. SAENREDAM (Zaandam 1565 - Assendelft 1607)
|
Jan Pieterszoon Saenredam (1565 – 6 April 1607) was a Dutch Northern Mannerist painter, printmaker in engraving, and cartographer, and father of the painter of church interiors, Pieter Jansz Saenredam. He is noted for the many allegorical images he created from classical mythology and the Bible. Saenredam was born in Zaandam. As an orphan Jan lived with his uncle, Pieter de Jongh, a bailiff in Assendelft who first sent him to learn basket weaving as a profession. Being an apt student, he was taught reading and writing, but astonished his teachers when he proved already so accomplished in this that he decorated his texts with curled decorations. An example of his penmanship could once be seen on display at Assum House near Heemskerk (residence of the Lord of Assendelft), which was his copywork of the ten commandments. Despite a decision that he follow a career in a trade or farming, he showed such artistic talent that he started as an apprentice cartographer. His first map is dated 1589 and is of the province of Holland, which could be seen in the city book of Guiccardijn (referring to a 1593 work by Lodovico Guicciardini called The Description of the Low Countries). He was visited by a lawyer called Spoorwater tot Assendelft, who convinced his guardian to let him apply his gift, and thus young Saenredam was sent to learn drawing from Hendrick Goltzius in Haarlem, where he became a master at the age of 24 (in 1589).
After working for some time with Goltzius, he encountered the almost inevitable professional rivalry and jealousy, prompting his departure to work in Amsterdam for two years. He then returned to Assendelft where he married and set up his own workshop. His first engraving was of the 12 apostles after a drawing by Karel van Mander. He produced prints after Goltzius, Abraham Bloemaert, Cornelis van Haarlem, Polidoro da Caravaggio, and his own invention. He made over 170 plates of which the last one was a history of Diana and Callisto by Paulus Moreelse in 1606.
Two plates he was working on, after drawings by Bartholomeus Spranger and Willem Thibaut, were finished later by Jacob Matham.
According to the Rijksmuseum, he returned in 1595 from Amsterdam to Assendelft, where he married Anna Pauwelsdochter. Jan left his wife a sizeable estate as a result of lucrative investments in the Dutch East India Company. He died of typhus on April 6, 1607 and was buried in the choir of the Saint Adolphus church at Assendelft, with the gravestone inscription Ioannis Saenredam Sculptoris celeberrimi.
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