Lot n° 18
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10000 - 20000
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Jacques BELLANGE (1594–1638) - Lot 18
Jacques BELLANGE (1594–1638)
The Three Marys at the Tomb
Etching. Signed Bellange
440 x 290 mm. Sold framed.
(minor wear, tears, slightly warped paper, no margins)
Bibliography: Robert-Dumesnil 9; Walch 46; Griffiths & Hartley 14
One of the masterpieces of French Mannerist engraving, Jacques Bellange’s *The Holy Women at the Tomb*, faithfully follows the account in Mark 16:1–6:
“ After the Sabbath had passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices to go and anoint Jesus’ body.
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
They asked one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?’
They looked and saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.
They entered the tomb and saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a long white robe. They were seized with fear.
He said to them, “Do not be afraid! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. Here is the place where they had laid him.” ”
The third woman mentioned by the apostle Mark, Salome, should not be confused with Herodias’s daughter. A disciple of Christ, she was also known as Mary Salome, hence the common French title of this work: “The Three Marys at the Tomb.” Bellange depicts the three women twice: first in the background on the left, as they discover the open entrance to the cave; and second, in front of the empty tomb, just as the angel announces Jesus’ resurrection.
It is a bold composition, in which the three Marys occupy a prominent place in the foreground but are seen from behind or in profile. The viewer is thus placed in the same position as the women, gazing toward the Angel of the Resurrection. This work is the most monumental of Bellange’s major engravings—such as “The Resurrection of Lazarus” or “The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy”—which can sometimes appear overloaded and confusing. Here, everything is reduced to the essence of the narrative, while retaining Bellange’s unique and highly eccentric style, characterized by elongated figures, opulent costumes, and extravagant hairstyles.
Little is known about the life of Jacques Bellange, court painter to the Duke of Lorraine in Nancy between 1602 and 1616. His career as an engraver began in 1613; it can be considered the pinnacle of French Mannerist printmaking. His body of printed work is limited: only 47 plates in total.
Nicole Walch has identified only six of them in public collections. Griffiths and Hartley mistakenly mention two copies of the first state (before the signature), in Boston and Amsterdam, but the sheet in the Rijksmuseum is actually a copy of the second state, which is signed.
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