St Agnes and the Seven Virtues

Vos, Maarten de, after

Engraving on paper of St Agnes surrounded by the Seven Virtues engraved by Hans Collaert the elder (c.1525/30-1580) probably after a design by Maarten de Vos (1532-1603) and published by Eduard van Hoeswinckel (fl. 1570s-1583) in Antwerp between 1579 and 1583. The central panel depicts St Agnes holding a cross and palm leaf of a martyr accompanied by a lamb. She looks toward the sun inscribed with the Tetragrammaton. A Latin verse inscribed in the cartouche below. The surrounded panels are the personifications of the Seven Virtues, clockwise from top: Charity (Charitas) as a woman nursing, Hope (Spes) as a woman with an anchor, Fortitude (Fortitudo) as a woman holding a pillar, Temperance (Temperantia) as a woman pouring water into a goblet of wine, Prudence (Prudentia) holding birds and snakes in opposite hands, Justice (Iustitia) as a woman wearing a blindfold holding a sword and scales, and Faith (Fides) as a nun in prayer.