Job Receiving the Ill-News of his Misfortunes

Method Copper engraving
Artist Philips Galle after Maarten van Heemskerck
Published [Antwerp, 1563]
Dimensions Image 190 x 240 mm
Notes Job has torn his clothes and ripped out part of his hair, has fallen to the ground, and is grovelling before four messengers. Each of them has come to Job baring bad news. The first has come to tell Job that his farmers were attacked and Job's herds of donkeys and oxen were stolen by the Sabeans. The second tells Job that his servants and sheep were killed in a fire. The third states that the Chaldeans stole all of Job's camels. Finally the fourth messenger brings the news that the house of his oldest son collapsed when all of Job's children were gathered there together for a dinner, and none of them survived. All of these tragedies are depicted in the background of the scene, while each of the messengers wears clothing and attributes indicating their roles, such as a sheepskin hat or an amphora. From Galle's "The Story of Job" after designs by Maarten van Heemskerck.

Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1547) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He apprenticed in Haarlem with Jan van Scorel and travelled to Italy from 1532 to 1537. He had a very successful career in Haarlem upon his return. As a printmaker he worked exclusively as a designer, collaborating with engravers such as Philips Galle, Cornelis Bos, Dirk Coornhert and Theodor de Bry, often through association with Hieronymus Cock and other publishers.

Philips Galle (1537 - 1612) was a Dutch engraver, printmaker, and publisher, particularly celebrated for his reproductive engravings of original works by Hieronymus Cock, Maarten van Heemskerck, Johannes Stradanus, and other Dutch and Flemish masters. Galle's success as an engraver and publisher put him in close contact with many of the late sixteenth century's most important figures, including Ortelius, for whom he produced numerous plates, as well as Christopher Plantin, his students Hendrick Goltzius, Adriaen and Jan Collaert and others. Following his work on Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Galle produced a series of miniature maps after Ortelius' originals, which he published, potentially without the permission of Ortelius, as the Spieghel der Wereld, the first miniature atlas.

New Hollstein, Galle, 59; New Hollstein, Heemskerck, 163.

Condition: Good impression. Slight overall time toning and minor foxing. Trimmed within plate mark, inscription missing.
Framing unmounted
Price £120.00
Stock ID 46211

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