Samuel anointing David. Series: The Story of Saul and David.
Maerten de Vos (Antwerp 1532 – Antwerp 1603)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1580 - 1590
Materials
Ink on paper.
Measurements
198 x 268 mm
Collection
Saltram, Devon
NT 873018.6.11
Caption
Several of the prints in the nine albums acquired by the Parkers in 1772 from Angelica Kauffman have been squared up using a red pencil to make a grid across the image. This was a technique used by artists to copy images by hand on to a bigger canvas. Kauffman who collected the prints was a student in Italy and copied many of the Old Masters in Florence, Rome and Parma from 1754 – 1764. These prints could also have been used by Frances Talbot, Countess of Morley (1782 – 1857) as she was a gifted amateur artist and was known to copy from the masters. In one of the albums, (873018.10.82) a print has been removed from the page which has an inscription confessing to the deed: “I cut out this print in 1880”, signed Morley. Clear evidence that these prints were much loved by the subsequent generations of owners.
Summary
(Folio 5, recto, lower print) Samuel anointing David; Samuel pours oil from a horn over David's head as he kneels on a cushion, witnessed by a group of standing figures;
Marks and inscriptions
Below left.: Lettered below left "Martin De vos figur [] JSadeler auctor et excu". Below centre "PALÆSTRA". Lettered extensively in the margin "PATIENTIÆ DAVIDIS REGIS ...".
Makers and roles
Maerten de Vos (Antwerp 1532 – Antwerp 1603), painter Aegidius Sadeler II (Antwerp c.1570 - Prague 1629) , creator