The Apostle Thomas

Unknown artist

At the age of 17, Flemish graphic artist Johan Wierix, decades after Dürer’s death, produced an equilateral copy of his engraving “Der Apostel Thomas” in 1514. In order to demonstrate his ability, he clearly oriented himself to the template. Even the correction of the number “5” in the dating has been taken over by the original. The apostle is standing upright in step, leaning with his right hand on a lance - instrument of his martyrdom - while holding a deferred book in the other. His gaze sweeps into the distance, the head is accentuated by a beam nimbus. While dating and monogram are reminiscent of Dürer as the spiritual creator of the image idea, references to the copyist and the time of origin are integrated with the name abbreviation “IH • W” and the characteristic age indication of the Wierix brothers, here “Æ 17.” Mauquoy-Hendrickx lists three states of the record: with the name abbreviations of Dürer and Wierix, with the address Claes Jansz. Visschers, with the number “4” (cf. Mauquoy-Hendrickx II.179,971).