Image

Pieter van der Heyden

The Descent of Christ into Limbo

Description

Maker

Pieter van der Heyden (Netherlandish, ca. 1530-ca. 1575)
After Pieter Bruegel I (Flemish, b. 1525-1530, d. 1569)
Hieronymous Cock (Netherlandish, ca. 1510-1570), publisher

Title

The Descent of Christ into Limbo

Year

1561

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

engraving

Supports

Dimensions

Plate/Image: 23.5 x 29.2 cm (9 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Verso in pencil in LR:No. 282; in LL:MK 38356; in blue pencil in LL:M4845-.100In Plate--In LL: P/-AVE-(all in monogram);in LR:-H-COCK excu. Brueghel Invent; in LC:TOBLITE O PORTE, CAPITA VES

Marks: RISD Museum stamp in brown in on verso

Identification

State

1st of 2

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mr. Henry D. Sharpe

Object Number

50.018

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Brilliant Line
Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650
Sep 18, 2009 – Jan 03, 2010

Label copy

The simple, open shading and disciplined but rich play of light and shadow employed here by Pieter van der Heyden would become the predominant, uniform style for engravers working for the Antwerp publisher Hieronymus Cock.

Bruegel’s composition is based on an episode from the Gospel of Nicodemus in the Apocryphal New Testament. As Christ descends in a luminous bubble, the mouth of hell opens and the prophets and patriarchs contained within are saved. Limbo is populated by monsters, demons, and devilish machines, much like the hell scenes painted by Hieronymus Bosch sixty years earlier. A legend below offers a version of Psalm 24:9: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.”

Related Publications

Related Publications

  • Books

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650

Renaissance engravings are objects of exquisite beauty and incomparable intricacy that are composed entirely of lines. Artists began using this intaglio process in Europe as early as 1430. This captivating catalogue focuses on the height of the medium, from 1480 to 1650, when engravers made dramatic and rapid visual changes to engraving technique as they responded to the demands of reproducing artworks in other media. The Brilliant Line follows these visual transformations and offers new insight into the special inventiveness and technical virtuosity of Renaissance and Baroque (Early Modern) engravers. The three essays discuss how engraving’s restrictive materials and the physical process of engraving informed its visual language; the context for the spread of particular engraving styles throughout Europe; and the interests, knowledge, and skills that Renaissance viewers applied when viewing and comparing engravings by style or school.

Use & Feedback

Image use

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Pieter van der Heyden (Netherlandish, ca. 1530-ca. 1575)
After Pieter Bruegel I (Flemish, b. 1525-1530, d. 1569)
Hieronymous Cock (Netherlandish, ca. 1510-1570), publisher
The Descent of Christ into Limbo, 1561
Engraving on medium weight cream laid paper
Plate/Image: 23.5 x 29.2 cm (9 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches)
Gift of Mr. Henry D. Sharpe 50.018

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