Title Page for Justus Lipsius, Opera Omnia, I
Medium
engraving on laid paper [proof before letters]
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
William B. O'Neal Fund
Accession Number
1996.78.18
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Cornelis Galle I, created in 1637 after a design by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, serves as title page for the first of Justus Lipsius’s *Opera Omnia*, the collected works of the influential Flemish humanist scholar. Lipsius’s writings on Stoic philosophy and classical antiquity shaped European intellectual life in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Rubens, renowned for his dynamic Baroque style, frequently contributed designs for scholarly publications, lending visual authority and elegance to important texts. Executed as an engraving on laid paper in a proof-befo...
About the Artist
Cornelis Galle I after Sir Peter Paul Rubens
Cornelis Galle I, born in 1576 in Antwerp as the younger son of the renowned engraver and publisher Philip Galle, received his foundational training under his father, mastering the meticulous techniques of line engraving in the family workshop. Following this apprenticeship, Galle journeyed to Italy around 1597, residing in Siena, Rome, and Genoa until approximately 1603. There, he studied works b...