Scripture for the Eyes: Bible Illustration in Netherlandish Prints of the Sixteenth Century, a collection of approximately 80 engravings and woodcuts by the foremost Dutch and Flemish masters of the sixteenth century, will be on view at the Carlos Museum from October 17, 2009 to January 24, 2010. The exhibition, featuring works by Lucas van Leyden, Maarten van Heemskerck, Dirck Volkertszoon Coornhert, and Hieronymus Wierix among others, explores the ways in which printed illustrations of Biblical and other religious themes supplemented and magnified the texts they accompanied during a period of dramatic religious and political upheaval.
In the sixteenth-century Netherlands, the translation of biblical texts into biblical images went hand-in-hand with the translation of scripture into the common language. Antwerp and Amsterdam became major centers where vernacular Bibles and their woodcut and engraved illustrations were published. The exhibition demonstrates how, as curator Dr. Walter S Melion points out, “pictorial images. . . offered a clarifying lens through which the word of God was received, pondered, and interpreted” by a growing audience at the time of tumultuous struggles between Protestants and Roman Catholics.
Notable works include The Return of the Prodigal Son (c. 1510) by Lucas van Leyden, regarded as one of the greatest engravers in the history of art. The engraving dramatizes the New Testament parable of the Prodigal Son with the events of the story being staged
within a richly detailed, panoramic landscape. The central message of the parable, the father’s forgiveness of his repentant son, would have been clear to both Roman Catholics and Protestants. Each could, however, interpret the message of the image in the light of their own beliefs.
Also in the exhibition are three scenes from Hendrick Goltzius’ Life of the Virgin. In this brilliant series, the artist surrendered his own virtuosic engraving style to assume the styles of six earlier masters in order to signify the multiple forms of beauty required to evoke the Virgin’s physical and spiritual perfection. In the case of The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1593-1594), Goltzius imitates the style of his illustrious predecessor, Lucas van Leyden.
Scripture for the Eyes is organized by the Museum of Biblical Art in New York and curated by Dr. Melion, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History, Emory University, and Dr. James Clifton, Director, Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation. Illustrations are on loan from 13 institutions including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Antwerp’s Plantin-Moretus Museum, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Also included are key items from Emory University Libraries, including five rare volumes of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible. Atlanta is the only other destination for Scripture, which opened at MOBIA this past June and was enthusiastically reviewed by the New York Times.
