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Chariton (from the 'Sylvae Sacrae. Monumenta...Anachoretarum' series of hermits lives)
Chariton (from the 'Sylvae Sacrae. Monumenta...Anachoretarum' series of hermits lives)

Chariton (from the 'Sylvae Sacrae. Monumenta...Anachoretarum' series of hermits lives)

Artist Thomas de Leu French, ca. 1555 - ca.1612
ArtistAfter Raphael Sadeler I Flemish, 1560-61 - ca. 1628 or 1632
ArtistFrom drawings by Maarten de Vos Flemish, 1532 - 1603
Dateca. 1606
MediumEngraving on laid paper
DimensionsSheet: 5 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. (14.6 x 18.4 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineGift in memory of Leon H. and Marie Buttlar Sparling by their family
Object number2008.20.9
On View
On view
Collections
  • Works on Paper
Inscribed"2050" in thick, light grey pencil at the lower right, reverse. On old mat board cut out and removed to new inner mat, an number label like those on 2008.20.8, 10 and .14., having 3/4" high black numbers in a late 19th or early 20th century type, the edges of the label punched like a stamp. The number is "987" and has "Sadeler (R)" written in black ink below it and "$1.50" written in pencil on the old mat adjacent to it. Printed in pencil on the bottom center of new inner mat "Raphael Sadeler/Chariton"
MarkingsWatermark of a flagon or ewer near the bottom of the sheet, center.
DescriptionFrom one of the several series of lives of hermits and saints originally engraved by Jan and Raphael Sadeler and republished in reverse by Thomas de Leu. The full title of this volume is 'Sylvae Sacrae Monumenta sa[n]ctioris philosophiae quam severa Anachoretarum disciplina vitae et religio docuit'. See 2008.20.8 and .10 for others from another, slightly later series of Sadeler hermits.

Figure of a bearded male wearing (monks?) robes, seated in a niche in a large rock reading from a volume open on the rock and holding a crucifix in his right hand. A nimbus/halo appears behind his head. There is a wooden ladder and railing at the base of the niche and another railing leads down and out of the picture to the left. The hilly background at the left has trees and two buildings in the valley below.

Legend on the lower margin of the print below the bottom border of the image, two lines of text on either side of a centered number "1".
The pair of lines at the left read =
"I conius CHARITON vinclis & carcere miƒsus/
Se nemorum properat claudere carceribus.

The lines at the right read =
"Dura ƒilex nectar ƒitienti dulce propinat;
Namq solent Diuûm saxa mouere preces."

From the numbering and the position of the example of the Sadeler version of this print in the set owned by the National Public Library of Portugal it appears that Chariton was the first plate in that series and volume. (for source see Notes)

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