by Shirley K. Bennett

The Antwerp artist Maerten de Vos (1532-1603) was acclaimed in his own day as a painter of altarpieces. Today, he is more widely known for his drawings,[1] at least 500 of which survive, the majority of them being models for prints or book illustrations.[2] Among the drawings for which no commission or engraving has been identified are eight small, round drawings in the Plantin-Moretus printroom, Antwerp (figs. 1-8).[3]

1. The Departure of Terah, Abram, Lot and Sarai from Ur, cat. no. D.X.6 (catalogued by the museum as The Angel Leading Lot and His Family out of Sodom).


2. The Pharaoh Returns Sarai to Abram, cat. no. D.X.8 (catalogued by the museum as The Departure of Rebecca)


3. The Offering of Melchizedek, cat. no. D.X.9


4. Abraham Sees the Burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, cat. no. D.X.10


5. Abimelech Returns Sarah to Abraham, cat. no. D.X.12.


6. The Dismissal of Hagar, cat. no. D.X.5


7. Abraham and Abimelech make a Covenant at the Well at Beersheba, cat. no. D.X.7


8. The Death and Burial of Abraham, cat. no. D.X.11

1-8: Maerten de Vos, Eight scenes from the life of Abraham. Each pen and brown ink with bistre wash, diameter 5.5 cm. Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus (copyright of the museum)

These eight sheets depict episodes from the story of Abraham, and since each is of the same size and format, it would seem likely that they are part of a series on the patriarch's life. In view of the fact that many important episodes from Abraham's long life are not included, while several less well-known stories are, it is reasonable to assume that the series was once larger. No date for the drawings has ever been suggested and their purpose has remained unexplained. This article will examine these drawings and their function.

Purpose of the drawings
The drawings are models for eight of the 22 illustrations used to ornament an engraved map of Canaan published in 1586 by the famous cartographer, Abraham Ortelius (fig. 9).[4] This map, entitled Abrahami Patriarchae Peregrinatio et Vita (The Life and Travels of Abraham the Patriarch), stands today as a landmark in Netherlandish map production because of its rich decorative scheme, and because the cartographic portion was drawn by Ortelius himself.[5 ] Despite the popularity of this map among those interested in the history of cartography, no one has noted the stylistic, thematic and compositional relationship between its vignettes and De Vos's eight drawings. Not only do the images appear in exact mirror image on the map, but the drawings and the printed vignettes are the same size.