Seventeenth-century copperplates have been discovered in a Jesuit community in Amsterdam.

After the discoveries of a Caravaggio in the Jesuit community of Dublin and of a Tintoretto in the Jesuit community of Wernersville, Pennsylvania, now a third remarkable discovery can be reported.

This time it is not a painting by a famous artist but rather a collection of copperplates by members of the Wierix family, a family of engravers in Antwerp. It emerged when in the summer of 2000 the Jesuit presbytery of the Saint Francis Xavier church in downtown Amsterdam (better known as De Krijtberg) was vacated because of future renovation activities.

This house, erected in 1835, replaced a seventeenth-century building that had been one of the "stations" or hidden churches of the Jesuits in Amsterdam since 1654.

In the Dutch Republic, where Protestantism had become the official religion, Catholics were treated as second-class citizens. Nevertheless they appear to have maintained themselves rather well. How they disposed of some of their money becomes clear from the design of their churches. For the interior of De Krijtberg the Amsterdam Jesuits appealed to famous Flemish artists like the Protestant painter Jacob Jordans (1593-1678) from Antwerp.

In the 1960s Jesuits in Amsterdam sold some of their most important and valuable art works, such as the altar piece Adoration of the Shepherds, a 1657 work of the Flemish painter Jan Cossiers (now in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts); it was not to be expected that anything else of artistic importance would surface. However, last year the oldest member of the community produced a simple cardboard box that he had kept in his room for more than 30 years.

A box with copperplates

Nestled inside were 75 copperplates from the early seventeenth century, the work of three members of the Wierix family. The plates, almost without exception in excellent condition, are now one of the largest collections of Wierix copperplates in the world. Every piece was wrapped in blank or printed paper, two of them in theater programs of a girls' boarding school in Ghent from 1819 and an Amsterdam newspaper from 1839.

The members of the Wierix family whose work is represented in this collection are Anton Wierix (1555/9-1604), Hieronymus Wierix (1553-1619), and his son-in-law Jan Baptist Barbé (1578-1649).

The provenance of the copperplates

Nothing can be said with certainty about how the Wierix copperplates ended up in Amsterdam. But the history of the Amsterdam Jesuits at the end of the eighteenth century could give some indication.

In spite of the suppression of the Society of Jesus by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, its former members had been able to stay at De Krijtberg and in other towns of the Netherlands. As much as possible they stuck to their posts; by doing so they hoped to keep their possessions until the Jesuit order would be restored, which happened more than 40 years later, in 1814.

Their confreres in the Southern Netherlands had been less fortunate; the state had confiscated their houses and properties. Probably one of those former Jesuits in Antwerp brought the copperplates to safety to Amsterdam, which would not have been too difficult. Maybe the copperplates followed the same route as a collection of about 2,000 sermons in Flemish that ended up in the possession of the Dutch Jesuits.

The use of Wierix's engravings

The engravings by Wierix are examples of devotional or prayer cards that were distributed in painted or printed form in the Netherlands from the fifteenth century onward. They have their origin in the Dutch medieval spiritual movement of the Devotio Moderna. These images served as visual aids for a prayer's imagination. They contain biblical themes, scenes from the lives of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, portraits of saints, and emblematic images. By looking at these saints or scenes the faithful can be touched and inspired.

These devotional cards were bought and collected by Christians young and old. They were handed out in churches and schools during catechism classes and meetings of sodality members. Religious men and women kept them in their prayer books or put them on the walls of their rooms. From about 1730 Amsterdam Catholics used them as obituary cards on the deaths of fellow believers.

The Jesuits and the Wierixes

There was close cooperation between the Wierix family and the Society of Jesus. Out of a total of 2,333 prints made by the Wierixes, at least 10 percent have a clear Jesuit connection. Many of these engravings were used by Jesuit missionaries all over the world, and were, often with stunning results, copied by European Jesuits or abroad by local artists for churches and other buildings in Europe, India, China, Japan, and the Americas. The work of the Wierixes thus became a hallmark of Jesuit identity and iconography.

It is remarkable that Wierix was explicitly mentioned in the Dutch translation of the Latin jubilee volume that the Plantin Press published in 1640 for the Flemish Jesuits on the occasion of the first centenary of their order. In the opening lines of his poem on the worldwide oppression of Jesuits—here symbolized in an emblem with a printing press—Dutch Jesuit poet Adriaen Poirters (1605-1674) wrote:

My press is famous for its finest plates
left to us by Albert Durer or Wierix,
or still cut today by a skilful master:
rarely if ever art has died as time goes by.

The most important body of work by the Wierixes for the Jesuits is the 153 engravings for the influential meditation book by the Spanish Jesuit Jeronimo Nadal, Evangelicae historiae imagines, of which the first edition appeared in 1593 in Antwerp, although negotiations about the involvement of the Wierixes had already started in 1586. It is "the earliest such series of the whole of the New Testament of any size or importance ever produced," according to Church historian Fr. John O'Malley, SJ, and "may represent the Jesuits' greatest and most successful artistic achievement of the 16th century," in the words of art historian Gauvin Alexander Bailey.

Portrait of Ignatius

Ignatius Loyola is often pictured holding a book--his Spiritual Exercises or the Jesuit Constitutions or sometimes, as here, a simple Jesuit rule. This image was probably part of the concerted effort to popularize Ignatius that led to his canonization in 1622.

All of the engravings shown on these pages are by Hieronymus Wierix except for the portrait of Bellarmine, which was done by Anton Wierix.

Crucifix with Four Jesuits

Combining imagination, instruction, and devotion, Hieronymus Wierix depicted the crucifixion on a grapevine that emerges from a chalice. In the radiance appear the words, "I am the true vine, and you the branches." Four Jesuit saints (Ignatius Loyola, Aloysius Gonzaga, Stanislaus Kostka, and Francis Xavier), books and birettas put down for the moment, kneel in worship.

Chalice with Two Jesuits

Two Jesuits kneel in awe before the reality of the Eucharist; Christ, risen from the dead, still offers his body and blood. "Through these openings can I suck honey from the rock and oil from the hardest stone," says the legend.

Heart with a Man Chopping a Tree

This symbol-filled image leads to contemplation of God's working for our good. The tree of sin grows in the garden; at its base the serpent holds the poisonous fruit in its mouth. Jesus, however, is about to destroy that tree under the inspiration of the Spirit. Psalm 50 provides the heart of the story: "Create a clean heart in me and a steadfast spirit in my inner being."

Portrait of Bellarmine

Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit scholar and Church leader, was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII in 1599. Angels hold the symbols of episcopal office, while inspiration enlightens his scholarly writing. Though known for holiness during his lifetime, he was not canonized until 1930.

Angels Good and Bad

In an image crowded with symbols, Divine Love stands triumphant. He touches his arrow to the wound of Christ; above the cross is the emblem of the name of Jesus and a dove, representing the Spirit, from whom come the words, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth." Below the cross laurel wreathes await the victorious followers of Christ crowding around who include a few Jesuits sketched in behind Divine Love's bow. Cupid, meanwhile, is bound and blindfolded, and his arrows lie broken.

Ignatius in Ecstasy

At one point in his conversion pilgrimage, Ignatius went into a state of ecstasy for seven days; he was so still that he appeared to be dead. But, the legend says, "gently whispering the name of Jesus, he awoke as from a sweet dream." The clothing and architectural details reflect more the Flemish origin of the engraving than the Spanish origin of the story.