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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: 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 New 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), Mater Sampsonis (New Holl. 96 ii/iii, before the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 11 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). Samson's parents pray for a child, are told they will have a son who will redeem Israel from the Caananites, sacrifice at an altar and see the angel ascend to heaven in the smoke from the sacrifice (right rear). Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $750.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Ruth (New Holl. 98 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 13 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 print shows Ruth gleaning in Boaz' fields to feed herself and her dead husband's mother and sleeping at Boaz' feet to protect him (for which he marries her, becoming one of David's ancestors). Image size: 154x88mm. Price: SOLD.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Abygail (New Holl. 99 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 14 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). While David is in the wilderness of Paran, his men protect the flocks of Nabal (whose name means "churl"). When David asks for a gift for his men, Nabal rejects him slightingly and David flies into a rage, vowing to slaughter everyone who belongs to Nabal. Nabal's wife Abigail hears of this, gathers some food together, intercepts David, offers him her gifts, and begs his forgiveness for her churlish husband. David, seeing this as God's intervention to prevent him from acting unjustly, repents his fury and spares Nabal who is too drunk to hear Abigal's report until the next morning whereupon he is struck down (by God according to David) and dies ten days later. Abigail then becomes one of David's wives. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $600.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Abelae Mulier (New Holl. 100 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 15 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). When Sheba son of Bichri revolts against King David and flees to the city of Abel, David sends Joab in pursuit. Joab comes to Abel and is addressed by a woman of Abel who urges him not to destroy the city. When Joab tells him he has come only for the rebel Sheba, the woman persuades the people to cut off Sheba's head and throw it over the city walls to Joab, who departs and leaves the city in peace. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $600.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Sara Uxor Tobia (New Holl. 101 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 16 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). Sara's first seven husbands are all killed by he demon Asmodaeus on her wedding night. Seven times a widow yet still a virgin, she prays to God who sends the Archangel Raphael to help Tobias to drive away the demon and marry the poor widow. Raphael also helps Tobias cure his father's blindness, using the inner organs of a large fish both to drive away the demon and to cure Tobit's blindness. Finally Raphael reveals that he is one of the seven archangels, praises the Lord who succors his people, and flies off to heaven. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $500.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Judith (New Holl. 102 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 17 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). Judith comes to the Assyrian General Holofernes as he is about to slaughter Israel and wins his lust with her beauty. He becomes drunk with wine and desire, falls asleep, and she cuts off his head with his sword. She takes his head back to her city of Bethulia and the Assyrians, waking the next morning to assault the city, discover the headless body of their general, panic, and flee. Judith, unravished and victorious, the means that the Lord chose to rid Israel of her enemy (Judith 13: 15-16), is honored by Israel. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $750.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Hester (New Holl. 103 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 18 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). Ahasuerus, King of Persia, puts aside his wife Vashti because she refuses to come when he sends for her (his council think that such disobedience unpunished wouled lead all wives to act the same way with their husbands) and seeks a new wife, choosing the beautiful Esther, niece of Mordecai. Mordecai learns of a plot to kill the king and through Esther warns the king who is saved as a consequence. Shortly afterwards one of the King's nobles, Haman, becomes offended with Mordecai, who refuses to prostrate himself before Haman, and seeks for his life and the lives of all Jews since Mordecai is a Jew. Esther, following Mordecai's advice, had never informed her husband of her religion. Now, coming uninvited into his presence (for which the penalty is death), she invites him to dinner and pleads for her life and the life of her people. Haman, who had built a 75-foot tall gallows on which he had planned to hang Mordecai, finds himself hung there instead, and Mordecai, for saving the King's life, gets Haman's office. Through her disobedience, Esther saves her people. Image size: 154x88mm. Price: $600.
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Jan II Collaert (Antwerp, 1561/62-1620), Mater Machab (New Holl. 105 iii/iii, with the biblical citation). Engraving after Maarten de Vos, c. 1590-95. Plate 20 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). Antiochus takes a mother and her 7 children and offers them the choice of eating pork or being put to death. Each in turn chooses death over disobedience to God's laws. "The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them, 'I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.' ” (2 Maccabees 7:20-23). 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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