The Triumph of Joseph

1559 (published 1638)

Dirck Volckertz Coornhert

Artist, Netherlandish, 1522 - 1590

Joannes Galle

Publisher, Flemish, probably 1600 - 1676

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving and etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 30.5 × 39 cm (12 × 15 3/8 in.)
    plate: 20.8 × 25.9 cm (8 3/16 × 10 3/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1974.53.7

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. 438, State iv/iv

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Craddock and Barnard, London); purchased by NGA, 1974.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. German engravings, etchings and woodcuts ca. 1400-1700. 8 vols. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954-1868. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Vols. I-XV, XVIII, XIX. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Maarten van Heemskerck. Parts I and II. Compiled by Ilja M. Veldman and edited by Ger Luijten. Roosendaal: Koninklijke van Poll, 1993.

Inscriptions

upper zone, in plate, names of subject and personifications engraved in image: IOSEPH, ZEPHIRACH, and INVIDIA; lower right, in plate, numbered in image: 3; below image, in plate: Impia facta fratrum, macra Inuidia ista figurans, / Vicit IOSEPHUS fidei virtute, & amorem / Illicitum ZEPHIRACH candore animi superavit. / Illius Omnipotens DEVS almam virginitatem / Seruauit sibi in incensum, pinguis bouis instar, / Tristia fata Chanam patriæ quo exhauriat olim. (Joseph's faith enabled him to triumph over the wicked deeds of his brothers, here represented by lean Jealousy, and his upright character made him stronger than the illicit desire of Zephirach. Almighty God has preserved for himself his [Joseph's] sweet virginity as a sacrificial offering, as a fatted ox, so that he might save Canaan, his fatherland, from a sad fate. [translation from Veldman, Ilja. "Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert and Heemskerck's allegories." In Maarten van Heemskerck and Dutch humanism in the sixteenth century, p.64. Maarssen: Gary Schwartz, 1977.])

Markings

none

Watermarks

present but not identified

Wikidata ID

Q65567754

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