Six Minor Prophets and Jonah Thrown into the Sea, Mortier Bible circa 1700

This original copper engraving from Pieter Mortier's illustrated Bible, published in Amsterdam circa 1700, combines a biblical scene and a gallery of prophets on one sheet. The subjects are the six later minor prophets, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, and Jonah thrown into the sea. It is plate 127 of the series, a fine example of Dutch Baroque biblical engraving with the upper and lower compositions each set in its own engraved frame.

The upper half, captioned De zes andere kleyne Profeeten, the six other minor prophets, is a gallery of six small scenes labeled Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonie, Haggee, Zacharie and Malachie, that is Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, each prophet shown with a setting from his book, from Habakkuk writing his vision on the tablets to Malachi rebuking the people before the temple.

The lower scene, captioned Jonas in de Zee geworpen, Jonah thrown into the sea, illustrates the storm of Jonah chapter 1, the verse reference given as chapter 2, verse 1 in the Dutch numbering. Lightning splits the sky, a great galley with carved stern labors in the waves, and the sailors cast Jonah overboard as the great fish rises from the water.

Pieter Mortier (1661 to 1711) was one of the leading publishers of Amsterdam, and his great illustrated Bible of 1700, the Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments, was among the most ambitious picture Bibles of the Dutch Golden Age, with more than four hundred scenes engraved on copper. The sheets were laid out as here, two scenes one above the other within engraved frames, each with its own cartouche giving the scripture reference and a caption in Dutch and French. The plate is signed B. Picart inv. for the designer Bernard Picart and Sluyter fecit for the engraver, with the imprint P. Mortier edit. cum Privil. Mortier drew on the best draughtsmen and engravers working in Amsterdam, among them Gerard Hoet, Arnold Houbraken, Jan Luyken and Bernard Picart, and the result is a monument of Dutch Baroque book illustration.

The sheet is printed on laid paper with full margins and a blank verso, and it is uncolored, as issued. A Mortier Bible engraving of this quality suits a study, library or hallway, and it hangs particularly well with other sheets from the same Bible, where the framed double compositions build into a striking group. It would also make a thoughtful gift for anyone with an interest in the Old Testament, Dutch art or the history of the printed Bible.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few spots and small chips and marginal losses at the edges; the image itself is unaffected.