Van Sichem Illustrated Dutch Bible

[Dutch Bible]. Biblia Sacra, dat is, De geheele Heylighe Schrifture bedeylt in’t Out en Nieu Testament [. . .] verciert met veel schoone figuren gesenden door Christoffel van Sichem.
Antwerp: Jan van Moerentorf and Pieter Jacopsz Paets, 1657. (Prothro B-121)

This Dutch Bible contains more than one thousand woodcut illustrations by Christoffel van Sichem (1580–1658) and several collaborators. The exhibited opening includes a woodcut of the Idolatry of King Solomon, described in 1 Kings 11:4–8: “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods. . . . Then Solomon built a high place . . . for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so did he for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.” This woodcut was based directly upon an engraving by Lucas van Leyden (1494–1533), one of the leading Dutch painters and printmakers of the Reformation era. Exhibited for comparison is the original engraving of 1514.

THE ELIZABETH PERKINS PROTHRO BIBLE COLLECTION