17th century Flemish school, after Sadeler, The Family of Enoch

17th century Flemish school, after Sadeler The Family of Enoch Oil on canvas cm. 49 x 115, Frame cm 68 x 134     Deriving from an engraving by Johannes I (Jan) Sadeler (Brussels, 1550 - Venice, 1600), the painting under examination artistically renders the episode narrated in Genesis. Born in Brussels, Jan Sadeler belonged to a family that successfully dedicated itself to the production, publication, and market distribution of prints. Jan was the first to practice the art of engraving. Enoch and his family, composed of his brother Idris and sister Azrial, together with his parents Jared and Baraka, pray before partaking in a frugal meal, while the servant exits the house with alms for the poor. The narrative then continues in the detailed landscape passage where the action takes place, with Enoch's ascension to heaven during a sacrifice. According to the Apocalypse, Enoch will return to earth, with the prophet Elijah, to fight the Antichrist. Enoch is an antediluvian biblical figure, the sixth direct descendant of Adam and Eve along the line of Seth (the so-called "great genealogy of the Sethites" cited in the Book of Genesis (5, 21-23[1]) and in the Letter of Jude where it is expressly stated that he was "the seventh [patriarch] after Adam" (Jude 14[2]). Son of Jared, he in turn fathers Methuselah, Noah's grandfather. His end is particular: "Enoch lived a total of 365 years, and he walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him." This enigmatic verse has given rise to the tradition that he was taken up to Heaven (as would later happen to the prophet Elijah). "Enoch pleased the Lord and was taken up, an instructive example for all generations," Sirach 44, 16[3] says of him. Thus, he is also found in the New Testament: "By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken away, he was commended as pleasing to God" (Hebrews 11, 5). This moment is represented in the painting under examination in the landscape in the background, an episode consequential to the narrative in the foreground. Sadeler's engraving is based on a painting by Gillis Mostaert (Hulst circa 1534 - Antwerp 1598) held in the Voronezh Regional Art Museum. A student of Jan Mandijn, he is the author of landscapes animated by biblical episodes and scenes of war (Burning of Troy, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum). His works have often been confused with those of Marteen van Cleve. His twin brother Frans (d. 1560) was also a landscape painter.