Bernard Picart Paris 1673 - 1733 Amsterdam

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Description

Bernard Picart
saint paul bitten by an adder
signed and dated lower left: B. Picart fecit 1698
bears numbering in brown ink verso: 2470
pen and black ink and wash, heightened with white, within black ink framing lines
Inv.nr. N 335

Provenance

Professor Dr. J.G. van Gelder, Utrecht

Exhibited

Amsterdam/Dordrecht 1994-5, cat. no. 40

Catalogue Note

Engraved, in reverse, by Laurens Scherm, as the illustration facing page 127 in the second volume of the so-called 'Great Bible' of Pieter Mortier, published in Amsterdam in 1700. This celebrated publication was illustrated with no fewer than 428 prints, the designs for which were made over several years by Picart and a number of other artists, including Ottmar Elliger the Younger, Jan Goeree, Philip Tideman and Gerard Hoet the Younger.

The subject is taken from the story of the apostle Paul's transportation from Jerusalem to Rome. Following a severe storm, his ship drifted rudderless at sea for two weeks, before being wrecked on the coast of Malta. While attempting to build a fire, the apostle was bitten by an adder that was hiding in the kindling wood. The islanders initially interpreted this as a sign that Paul must be a murderer, receiving his just desserts, but when the poison failed to have any effect on him, they decided instead that he must be a god.