# Fishing for Souls

- By: Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (Delft, ca. –1662)
- Date: 1614
- Medium: panel, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: frame: height 121.1 cm x width 211 cm
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-A-447--2d91c5ede924aa0edd45beedc5272a0c)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://iiif.micr.io/uaBGu/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In 1614 politics and religion are inextricably bound up with one another, as is very clear to see in this painting. At the left are Protestant ministers and leaders of the Republic (including Maurice), and at the right the archdukes who govern the South, with countless Catholic clergymen. The North, according to the painter, has a promising future: the sun shines there, the trees are full of leaves. Whosoever wants to be saved is better off swimming to a Protestant boat.