Description
THE MERCIES OF CHRIST. Set of 8 plates, complete. FIRST STATE, published 1580, 1585. Set includes “The Last Judgment” (1580) that Gerard de Jode attached as a title to “Seven Acts of Mercy” (1585), making a new set,”The Mercies of Christ” (1580, 1585), published in his 1585 masterpiece Sacrarum historiarum Veterus et Novi Testamentum. In “The Last Judgment”, Maarten de Vos (signature) is the Conceptual Artist, Antonius Wierix is the Engraver, and Gerard de Jode is the Publisher. In the remaining seven prints, Maarten de Vos is the Conceptual Artist, Raphael Sadeler I is the Engraver, and of course G. de Jode is the Publisher; signatures as noted. Clean, sharp impressions, overall, cut to the plate (sometimes just inside, esp. at the bottom edge, shaving some letters to the caption; see pics), and pasted onto heavier laid paper (not unusual) with wide margins, lightly washed during production to accentuate “antiquity.” Each plate has wide margins (not shown) that may appear a bit “wavy” but the plates themselves are unaffected. The 7th Act of Mercy, verso, has an unrelated engraving, “Ezra’s Third Vision”; a FIRST STATE engraving from the same 1585 de Jode work; Reference: New Hollstein 164.1 (de Vos). The story of the “Mercies of Christ”, along with “the Last Judgment”, is taken from Matthew 25:31-36 [37-46]. The 7th Mercy, however, is taken from the Book of Tobit, Chap. 4, where the “honorable burial” of one’s parent is keeping the Commandment to “honor thy mother and they father.”
8 Plates set in four museum-quality portfolios (landscape); COA in separate Bifold Portfolio. Sold as a set only.
[Plate 1] Title to Set. “The Last Judgment”, 1580. FIRST STATE. Conceptual Artist: M. de Vos (signature). Engraver: Antonius Wierix. Publisher: G. de Jode (signature). Hollstein 621 (de Vos). Wonderfully detailed. [Plate 2] 1st Mercy. “Feeding the Hungry”, 1585. FIRST STATE. This, and the other six Mercies: Conceptual Artist: Maarten de Vos. Engraver: Raphael Sadeler I. Publisher: G. de Jode. Hollstein 622 (de Vos). Nicely detailed. [Plate 3] 2nd Mercy. “Quenching the Thirsty”, 1585. FIRST STATE. Hollstein 623 (de Vos). Maarten de Vos (signature). Nicely detailed. [Plate 4] 3rd Mercy. “Sheltering Strangers”, 1585. FIRST STATE. Hollstein 624 (de Vos). Nicely detailed. [Plate 5] 4th Mercy. “Clothing the Naked”, 1585. FIRST STATE. Hollstein 625 (de Vos). Signatures of M. de Vos and G. de Jode. Break in plate, left center bottom, 2.8″. Nicely detailed. [Plate 6] 5th Mercy. “Visiting the Sick”, 1585. FIRST STATE. Hollstein 626 (de Vos). Signatures of M. de Vos and G. de Jode. Nicely detailed. [Plate 7] 6th Mercy. “Visiting the Prisoners”, 1585. FIRST STATE. Hollstein 627 (de Vos). Nicely detailed. [Plate 8] 7th Mercy. “Burying the Dead”, 1585. FIRST STATE. Hollstein 628 (de Vos). Nicely detailed. Verso: “Ezra’s Third Vision”, 1585. FIRST STATE. New Hollstein 164.1. From a story in 4 Esdras 13. Pictured last in the photo series, after the COA.
