The Unfaithful Prophet of Judah, from Six Large Upright Landscapes with Scenes from the Old Testament

Anthonie Waterloo (Dutch, c. 1610-1690)

n.d.

Medium
Etching in black on ivory laid paper
Classification
Print
Dimensions
30.1 × 25.7 cm (11 7/8 × 10 1/8 in.)
Culture
Holland
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
Credit line
Anonymous gift
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

Although Anthonie Waterloo made several hundred landscape drawings and etchings, his principal vocation was that of a print dealer. This brought him into contact with works by Dutch landscape artists such as Roelant Roghman and Jacob van Ruisdael, both of whom influenced his own art. The trees in this print, executed with a realism that indicates they were sketched out of doors, foreground a scene from the biblical book 1 Kings. The story tells of an old prophet who tricks a clergyman into doubting God. A lion kills the clergyman, but instead of eating him, the beast guards his body. The old prophet, repentant for the role he played in the man’s death, brings his body back on a donkey and gives the clergyman a proper burial.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0