Pieter
Jalhea Furnius (aka Pieter Jalhea Dufour; Petrus Furnius)
(c.1545–c.1610)
“The Parable of the Sower and the Seed”, 1585, after Gerard van Groeningen (fl.1563–73), plate
2 from the series, “Thesaurus Sacrarum historiarum Veteris et Novi Testamenti”
(aka Thesaurus Novi Testamenti elegantissimis iconibus expressus continens
historias atque miracula do[mi] ni nostri Iesu Christi”), published by Gerard de Jode (1509/17–1591).
Engraving on fine laid paper with large margins lined with an archival
support sheet.
Size: (sheet) 27.2 x 32.4 cm; (plate) 20.3 x 25 cm; (image
borderline) 19 x 24.8 cm
Lettered below the image borderline: “DVM DORMIVNT HOMINES INIMICVS
ZIZANIA INTERSERIT TRITICO.”
Inscribed below the image borderline: (right) “Matt. 13. 25.”
State ii (of ii) Note that my attribution of this print to the second
state is based on the first state impression held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art having the letter “M” following
the text line (see https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/654253)
and this impression is inscribed with “Matt. 13. 25.”
New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 93.I (Gerard van Groeningen) (F
W H Hollstein 1993, “The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings
and woodcuts 1450-1700”, Amsterdam)
The British Museum offers the following description of this print
(the BM print also features contemporary colour added to it which is
interesting to see):
“Satan sowing darnel. A monstrous man with a wild boar's head
sowing weeds at centre; various men and women seen asleep in the foreground and
at middle distance; a cottage seen behind, to right; after Gerard van
Groeningen. 1585”
Condition: a very crisp and well-printed impression with
wide margins (presumably as published) and in very good condition for its age
(i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing,
nevertheless, there are handling marks on the lower and right margins and the
right margin has a chipped edge with a slightly truncated top corner).
I am selling this early and very rare engraving from 1585 for AU$232
(currently US$182.69/EUR151.83/GBP134.65 at the time of this listing) including
postage and handling to anywhere in the world.
If you are interested in purchasing this visually arresting illustration of a devil sowing demon seeds, please contact me
(oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make
the payment easy.
This print has been sold
This is a very interesting print as it references a parable from
Matthew about a deadly weed called tares that can cause convolutions and even
death if eaten.
The problem with this nasty plant is that it is virtually
indistinguishable from young corn and can contaminate a crop of corn when the
two plants are harvested together.
Like most parables there is
complexity to the story illustrated here. For instance, a simple reading of
this image might suggest a warning that farm-workers should be alert, rather
than snoozing, to prevent the devil sowing the demon seed. This parable,
however, is more subtle and complex than that ...
The parable (or at least my
recollection of it) is NOT about rooting out the devil’s work but rather
letting god take care of the harvest. This may sound odd, but the inference is
that instead of rooting out evil—and here the “evil” is not really the poisonous
tares but rather non-believers in the faith—the idea is to leave the tares in the
corn rather than trying to extract the weed. Hopefully, by leaving the poisonous
plant with the corn, when both are ultimately ready for harvesting the good is
easily separated from the bad. In short, this illustration is all about
tolerance and having faith … or, to set the illustration into a context that
makes more sense to me—a chap that doesn’t have a religious bone in his body—I
guess it means NOT honking the horn at bad drivers but letting the “law” take
care of them.
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