Theobaldus (from the 'Oraculum Anachoreticum' series of hermits lives)

ArtistEngraved by Thomas de Leu French, ca. 1555 - ca.1612

ArtistAfter Jan (Johannes) Sadeler I Flemish, 1550 -1600

ArtistBased on drawings by Maarten de Vos Flemish, 1532 - 1603

Dateca. 1606

MediumEngraving on laid paper

DimensionsSheet: 5 7/8 x 7 9/16 in. (14.9 x 19.2 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift in memory of Leon H. and Marie Buttlar Sparling by their family

Object number2008.20.8

On View

On view

Collections

Works on Paper

Inscribed"I-VII" in pencil in the lower right front. On the reverse, "2050" in thick, light grey pencil at the lower right. Three labels cut out of old mat (or back board?) now mounted inside of new mat: 1. "Theobaldus -- Raphael Sadeler" handwritten in black ink, probably 20th century 2. "985" in 3/4" high black numbers in late 19th or early 20th centry type on a pre-printed label with punched stamp-like edges which is the same type as on 2008.20. 9, .10 and .14 3. "original copper engraving/by RAPHAEL SADELER/(1555-1616)/Flemish/16th century" See Description for text engraved in the legend at the bottom of the image area.

DescriptionMonk kneeling facing to the viewer's right in a wooded landscape. Dressed in tattered habit with a halo, the figure kneels before an arch-roofed brick shelter with a railing at the lower half, what appears to be a statue within and a cross on the roof. With his arms held out from his sides the figure looks upwards over the shelter towards a source of light in the upper right corner which illuminates his figure.

In the middle ground left there is a rough half-open shelter with thatch roof and cross at the top. A monk with a shovel digs in front of it. Beyond this is a more sturdily built structure with a cross on the door gable. Other structures are drawn further in the woods at the center middle ground and a town appears in the distance.

Legend at the base of the engraving outside the image border:
to the left two lines =
"Venit in Italiam Senonum THEOBALDUS ab oris;/
Et Vicetenis incola mansit agris."
to the right =
"Mente super stellas atri (?)jis habitabat in amplis/
Sic docuit multos; syluaq ludus erat.

The number 6 is printed between these two pairs of text lines.Exhibition History"Old Master Prints from the Sparling Family Collection", Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, February 28 - May 24, 2009.

“Prosperity and Exclusion,” The Hyde Collection, Hoopes and Whitney-Renz Galleries, May 31 – Sept. 21, 2025ProvenanceBefore 1938, New York, NY, William Randolph Hearst (according to Richard Helbig)
By 1941, New York, NY, Gimbels Department Store (according to Richard Helbig)
New York, NY, Richard Helbig
2006, Houston, TX, Tobin Sparling
2008, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust