Benjamin

c. 1585; published 1643

Jan Sadeler I after Crispen van den Broecke

Associated Names
Jan Sadeler I

Artist, Netherlandish, 1550 - 1600

Claes Jansz Visscher

Publisher, Dutch, 1586/1587 - 1652

Crispin van den Broeck

Artist After, Netherlandish, 1523 - c. 1591

The image depicts a young man named Joseph, standing at a slight angle. He is holding a bow and potentially an arrow. Joseph has curly shoulder-length hair and distinct facial features. He wears a pale yellow tunic with a blue cloak over his shoulders, along with knee-high red-laced sandals. In the background, there is a stone building, a circular tower, and various small figures. The sky is lightly clouded and there is greenery around the man's feet.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    hand-colored engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall (cut within platemark): 21.8 x 14.5 cm (8 9/16 x 5 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2005.128.9.b

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 71, State ii/ii

Associated Artworks

The image shows a figure in classical robes standing barefoot on a grassy knoll, next to a large goat and a white kid. In the background, there is a rustic building with a thatched roof, and a smaller animal grazing nearby. The landscape features rolling hills, muted trees, and Latin text at the bottom. The style resembles that of a Renaissance artist.

Benjamin

Jan Sadeler I, Claes Jansz Visscher

1585

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Kunsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler, Frankfurt am Main); purchased 2005 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. 72 vols. Amsterdam, 1980: XXI (Johannes Sadeler I), no. 71, ii/ii.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Crispijn van den Broeck, Ursula Mielke, author). Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers, 2011: Part I, no. 59, ii/ii.

Inscriptions

upper center in plate: IOSEPH; lower right in plate: .ii.; in margin below image, in plate: Filius accrescens, aspectu pulcher Ioseph / Faemineo e turri co[n]vitio petitur. / Inuideam mihi co[n]traxit mea uita pudica / Quodq[ue] manus leuib[us], sit mihi pro[m]pta telis. (A growing son, fair of countenance, is Joseph. From the towers women abuse him. My chaste life has earned me hatred, as has my hand, so swift with light darts. [translation from Veldman, Ilja M., and H. J. de Jonge, "The sons of Jacob: the twelve patriarchs in sixteenth-century Netherlandish prints and popular literature," Simiolus, vol. 15 (1985), no. 3, p. 196.])

Wikidata ID

Q76343343

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