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Spaightwood Galleries
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Maarten de Vos was born in Antwerp in 1532 and died there in 1603. His father Pieter de Vos was also a painter and he studied first with him and then with Frans Floris, one of the first to bring Mannerism to Antwerp. In 1551 de Vos left Floris and went to Rome, where he studied the works of Michelangelo and then to Venice where he became first the pupil then the friend and collaborator of Tintoretto. He was highly successful in Italy, executing commissions for the Medici among others. In 1558 he returned to Antwerp where he worked as a painter executing portraits and large commissions for churches. He executed some engravings, but he was far more prolific as a source of drawings that were then engraved and published by others. In this set of twenty pieces depicting the Celebrated Women of the Old Testament, his drawings were engraved by Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620)
Stylistically these engravings are clearly Mannerist in inspiration. Thematically, they present an interesting set of celebrated women. Rahab is a prostitute who protects Joshua's spies in Jericho and thus aids in Joshua's conquest of her city, Tamar (or Thamar) is a widow who must play the part of a prostitute to force her father-in-law to obey the law of Israel and give her his third son as a husband following the deaths of his two eldest sons without begetting a child with her. Esther uses her beauty to become the wife of an Assyrian King and uses that place to put down an attempt to destroy the people of Israel and Judith lures an Assyrian General to his death, thus demoralizing his troops and saving Isreal from destruction by allowing Holofernes to think that she will sleep with him and then cutting off his head with his own sword when he falls asleep drunk. The acts of some of these women demonstrate a willingness to put service to God above all other concerns including conventional morality. Some of the presentations stress the beauty and sexual attractiveness of the women as if to invite us to reconsider whether the very things for which women had frequently been condemned might not be the very means by which God saves his people in these stories.
Select Bibliography: A. Doutrepont, Martin de Vos et l'Entrée triomphale de l'Archiduc Ernest d'Autriche à Anvers en 1594 (Brussels/Rome: 1937); M.M.L. Netto-Bol, So-called Maarten de Vos sketchbook of drawings after the antique (The Hague, Staatsuitgeverij, 1976: Vol. IV of the series "Kunsthistorische Studiën van het Nederlands Instituut te Rome); C. Schuckman, Maarten de Vos, 1532-1603 (Rotterdam: Sound & Vision, 1995/96. 3 vols. Together 850 pp., ca.1600 ills. Vols XLIV - XLVI in the Hollstein's Dutch and Flemish series); A. Zweite, Studien zu Marten Vos. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der antwerpener Malerei in der zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Göttingen: Georg-August-Universität, 1974); A. Zweite, Marten de Vos als Maler. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Antwerpener Malerei in der zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts (Berlin 1980). For the definitive work on the Collaert family, see Marjolein Leesberg, and Arnout Balis, The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings, and Woodcuts 1450-1700. The Collaert Dynasty, Part I-Part IV (Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Publishers, 2005).
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Sara (New Holl. 87 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 2 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). In the left rear, Abraham at Sara's demand sends Hagar and Ishmael, the son that he begat upon her at Sara's demand before she was able to conceive Isaac, into the wilderness, where they will be saved from death by an angel. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: SOLD.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Rebecca New Holl. 88 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 3 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). In the background, Rebecca helps Jacob deceive his blind father Isaac into giving him the blessing that Isaac had intended for his older brother Esau. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $750.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Rebecca New Holl. 88 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 3 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). In the background, Rebecca helps Jacob deceive his blind father Isaac into giving him the blessing that Isaac had intended for his older brother Esau. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $600.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Leah (New Holl. 89 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 4 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). Jacob serves her father Laban for seven years in order to win Rachel, then discovers, the morning after the wedding that he had slept with Leah ("who was tender-eyed") instead and is forced to serve another seven years in order to wed Rachel. There is another engraving printed on the reverse, Rachel by Hans Collaert (Plate 5). Image size: 154x88mm. Price: SOLD.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Rachel (New Holl. de Vos 90 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 5 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). Rachel, "who was beautiful and well-favored," was jacob's first love but his second wife. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $750.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Thamar (New Holl. de 91 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 6 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). The scene depicts Tamar trapping her father-in-law into keeping his promise to allow her to marry his youngest son after the deaths of his two older ones after their marriages to her by dressing as a prostitute and sleeping with him (see top left). Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $750
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Maria, Sister of Aaron and Moses (New Holl. de 92 ii/iii, before the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 7 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). This engraving depicts the Song of Miriam from Exodus 15: 20-21: "Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women
went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: 'Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.' ” Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $750
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Rahab (New Holl. 93 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 8 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). There is another engraving printed on the reverse, Joshua by Abraham de Bruyn. Rahab is a prostitute in Jericho who protects Joshua's spies and keeps them from being discovered in return for being spared when Joshua takes the city. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $700.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Debora (New Holl. 94 ii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 9 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). Debora was one of the judges of Isreal; Queen Elizabeth I of England was compared to Debora in the early years of her reign. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: SOLD.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Iahel (New Holl. 95 i/iii, before the cover-up of her breasts and before the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 10 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). Jael's acts are told in Judges 4: 18-22: "Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $900.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Iahel (New Holl. 95 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 10 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II or Adrien Collaert and Carel van Mallery published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). Jael's acts are told in Judges 4: 18-22: "Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $600.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Mater Sampsonis (New Holl. 96 ii/iii, before the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 10 from a set of Celebrated Women of the Old Testament consisting of twenty engravings (plus frontispiece) by Jan II Collaert and published in Antwerp by Phillip Galle (1537-1612). Jael acts are told in Judges 4: 18-22: "Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say, ‘No.’ ” But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground—he was lying fast asleep from weariness—and he died. Then, as Barak came in pursuit
of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man whom
you are seeking.” So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $600.
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to sptwd@verizon.net. We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.
Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and other times by arrangement. Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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