Orazio Gentileschi Virgin with sleeping Christ Child ca. 1610 oil on canvas Harvard Art Museums |
Pieter Lastman The Resurrection 1612 oil on panel Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
Pieter Lastman Orestes and Pylades disputing at the altar 1614 oil on panel Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
Pieter Lastman The Angel and Tobias with the Fish ca. 1610-20 oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
"Then the child went out, and the angel with him, and the dog went out with him and walked with them. And they both walked, and the first night came upon them, and they camped by the Tigris river. Then the child went down to wash his feet in the Tigris River. And a large fish, leaping up from the water, wanted to swallow the foot of the young man, and he cried out. Then the angel said to the young man, "Take hold of the fish, and hang on!" So the child seized the fish and carried it up onto the land. Then the angel said to him, "Rip open the fish, and take out its gall and heart and liver, and put them aside for you, but the entrails throw away. For its gall and heart and liver are useful in medicine." So cutting open the fish, the young man gathered together the gall and heart and liver; then he roasted and ate some of the fish and kept some of it salted.
"And the two walked together until they drew near to Media. And then the young man asked the angel and said to him, "Brother Azarias, what is the medicine in the fish's heart and liver and in the gall?" And he said to him, "As for the fish's heart and liver, burn them to smoke in the presence of a man or woman afflicted by a demon or evil spirit, and every affliction will flee away from him, and will not remain with him any longer. And as for the gall, anoint a person's eyes on which white films have come up; blow upon them, upon the white films, and they will be healed."
– from the Book of Tobit, in A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Oxford University Press, 2007)
Robert Peake the Elder Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Pope ca. 1615 oil on panel Tate Britain |
Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger Portrait of a lady ca. 1615-18 oil on panel Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
Paul van Somer Portrait of a young girl ca. 1615 oil on panel Yale Center for British Art |
Peter Paul Rubens Judgement of Solomon 1616-17 oil on panel Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
"Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house; and it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment."
– from I Kings, chapter 3, Authorized Version (1611)
Peter Paul Rubens Miracles of St Francis Xavier 1616-17 oil on panel (modello for altarpiece) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Peter Paul Rubens St Sebastian ca. 1618 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
Peter Paul Rubens Assumption of the Virgin ca. 1616-18 oil on panel Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf |
Pedro Orrente Sacrifice of Isaac ca. 1616 oil on canvas Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao |
Jacob Jordaens The Tribute Money (Peter finding the silver coin in the mouth of the fish) ca. 1616 oil on canvas Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
Abraham Bloemaert Four Evangelists writing Gospels around a table ca. 1612-15 oil on canvas Princeton University Art Museum |