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Schelte Adams Bolswert

The Fathers of the Church and St. Clare

Maker

Schelte Adams Bolswert (Flemish, 1586-1659), designer
After Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640), painter
Nicolaes Lauwers (Flemish, 1600-1652), publisher

Title

The Fathers of the Church and St. Clare

Year

ca. 1627

Medium

  • engraving,
  • trimmed within platemark

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • engraving,
  • trimmed within platemark

Materials

engraving

Supports

  • Medium weight cream laid paper mounted on medium weight cream wove paper

Dimensions

Plate: 51.4 x 48.1 cm (20 1/4 x 18 15/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--Verso:in pencil, LC:25 30 5 Verso of mount:in pencil, LL:10-17-69 A-1/OLIVO; in UL:15ººRecto:in pencil, LR:19In Plate--In LL:Pet. Paul. Rubens pinxit et S. à Bolswert sculpsit.; in LR:Nicolaus Lauvers excudit Antuerpiae.; 4-line Latin inscription, LC:DOCTORVM aethereo... (see print for full inscription); in UC:HIC EST PANIS QVI DE CAELO DESCENDIT Ioan.6.

Identification

State

i/ii

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Anthony Olivo

Object Number

69.150

Type

  • Prints

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

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

Label copy

Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert was among the second generation of engravers working for the painter Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp. Bolswert built upon Lucas Vorsterman’s engraving strategies. He increased the number of crossed lines that made up dark tonal areas while also applying greater discipline and regularity to the length and width of lines, creating ever more dramatic coloristic effects. Notice how no surface is left untouched. Each face is characterized not by the net of lozenges and dots common to Goltzius and Carracci, but by closely spaced parallel lines punctuated with flicks or dots.

Rubens designed this subject for a suite of tapestries on the Triumph of the Eucharist, commissioned by the Infanta Isabella, Governess of the Spanish Netherlands, for the intended location of the Convent of Poor Clares at Descalzas Reales, Madrid. Depicted with the patroness St. Clare are the church fathers who traditionally announced or defended the Eucharist.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

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

Tombstone

Schelte Adams Bolswert (Flemish, 1586-1659), designer
After Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640), painter
Nicolaes Lauwers (Flemish, 1600-1652), publisher
The Fathers of the Church and St. Clare, ca. 1627
Engraving, trimmed within platemark
Plate: 51.4 x 48.1 cm (20 1/4 x 18 15/16 inches)
Gift of Anthony Olivo 69.150

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

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We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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