The Seven Virtues
c. 1600
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 29.9 × 21.1 cm (11 13/16 × 8 5/16 in.); sheet: 31.9 × 21.9 cm (12 9/16 × 8 5/8 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268292
Art Historical Context
**The Seven Virtues**, an exquisite engraving by Dutch artist Jacob Matham around 1600, captures the timeless Christian ideals of Faith, Hope, Charity,udence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. Matham, a master engraver from Haarlem and pupil of the renowned Hendrick Goltzius was renowned for his precise reproductive prints that popularized allegorical and moral themes during the Northern Renaissance. This work reflects the era's fascination with virtue as a counterbalance to vice, drawing from medieval and classical traditions amid the Protestant Reformation's emphasis on personal piety. Pr...
About the Artist
Jacob Matham · 1571–1631
**Jacob Matham: Master Engraver of Haarlem** Jacob Matham was born on October 15, 1571, in Haarlem, in the Northern Netherlands, into a burgeoning artistic milieu. Following his father's early death, his mother married the renowned painter and engraver Hendrick Goltzius in 1579, who adopted the young Jacob and trained him rigorously in the workshop as his stepson and pupil. Matham's first signed ...