Pieter van der Heyden (Belgio 1530 - Belgio 1572)

Pieter van der Heyden (Belgium 1530 - Belgium 1572) The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1575 Engraving Measurements: 382 x 240 mm Flemish engraver active in Antwerp between 1551 and 1571. He worked for the publisher Hieronymus Cock. The Holy Family is depicted at the foot of a dilapidated classical architecture. The birth of Christ corresponds in fact to the beginning of a new era and the collapse of pagan religions. The kneeling Virgin uncovers the Child wrapped in her veil, Saint Joseph waters the ox and the donkey and on the right we see the shepherds caught in adoration. In the background a ruined arch, an obelisk topped by a statue and on the left the profile of a castle on a rock, in the sky the comet star. The subject derives from an engraving by Lambert Lombard. In the lower left the author's monogram: P/AME and the address of the publisher I. Charpentier Excu. Beyond the image, in the lower white margin there are four verses in Latin in two columns: O parue, imbellis, ... / ... in vincla tyrannum. In the card of the specimen kept at the British Museum it is clear that the subject derives from an engraving by Lambert Lombard (1515-1566). Excellent impression with intense blacks. Perfect state of preservation, some traces of glue on the back. Specimen trimmed to the contour line visible on all four sides. State: II/III, with the address of the publisher Jacobus Carpentier, active in the first decades of the 17th century, but before the reduction of the copper in height as in the III state (Rijkmuseum). Under the Virgin's knee, the traces of the now abraded address of the printer Johannis Tijl, who was active in the last quarter of the 16th century (British Museum), can be seen, marking the second state. Watermark: lily in a shield surmounted by a flower, similar to Briquet 7161. (France, circa 1574). Bibliography: Hollstein, Dutch..., IX.26.3; Riggs 1977, Hieronymus Cock, Printmaker and Publisher (239); Wurzbach II.146