38. Adriaen Collaert
(1560-1618) after Hans Bol
January (The Angel Tells Joseph to Flee to Egypt)

(click on image to print)
Collaert : January

January (The Angel Tells Joseph to Flee to Egypt)

Engraving, 1585, 151 x 206 mm., Hollstein 511, LeBlanc 404 from The Months (The Life of Christ). Very good impression on laid paper with narrow margins on three sides, trimmed just inside the platemark at the base, the text complete; a few pale stains. The work is one of a set of the Months (with astrological signs), illustrated with scenes from the life of Christ. The reference here is to Matthew 2. At the left, the angel wakes the sleeping Joseph in the stable and tells him to take Mary and the child and flee to Egypt. At the right, they are seen travelling off, Mary on the donkey. The scene is set in a landscape of bare trees and a fortified town on a hill by a large river. Collaert, working in a commercial environment, was happy to mix sacred elements with secular to broaden the sales appeal of his prints.