Abimelech overhandigt duizend zilverlingen aan Abraham 1555

Cornelis Bos created this engraving, Abimelech overhandigt duizend zilverlingen aan Abraham, sometime in the first half of the 16th century. Bos was working in an era when printmaking was becoming increasingly important in the dissemination of ideas, both religious and political. Here, we see a biblical scene rendered with an eye to contemporary architecture and dress. Made in the Netherlands, this print reflects the cultural ferment of the reformation. Religious imagery was becoming a battleground between Protestants and Catholics. Prints were accessible and easily distributed, enabling new interpretations of biblical stories to reach a wide audience. Bos’s choices – his emphasis on classical architecture and his depiction of figures in contemporary clothing – invite viewers to see the biblical narrative as relevant to their own time and place. To understand this print fully, scholars consult a range of sources, from theological treatises to social histories of the Reformation. Art, you see, gains its deepest meaning in its original social and institutional context.