Christ triumphant over Death and Sin

Weerdt, Adriaan de, after · 1577

Engraving on paper of Christ triumphant over death and sin, engraved and published by Jan Sadeler I (1550-1600) after a design by Adriaen de Weerdt (1510-1590) in Antwerp in 1577. In the central roundel, Christ, holding the chains of Adam and Eve, sits on a cloud over Death as a skeleton and the Devil as a serpent. Death holds a ripped piece of parchment attached to the cross inscribed with the Latin text from Genesis 2.17 in which God forbids Adam and Eve to eat from the Forbidden Tree. Reclining in the spandrels above are the personifications of Justice holding a scale and accompanied by a crane and Peace holding an olive branch beside a dove. Sitting in the lower corners are Charity with three children and a burning urn and Grace with food and a pelican which pierces its breast to feed its young. Below are two verses of four lines each in Dutch and French.