Otto van Veen

Otto van Veen, one of the teachers of the celebrated Rubens from around 1594 to 1600, was not only a sought-after painter in Antwerp, but also the author of scholarly emblem books. His oeuvre, anchored in humanism, suggests that he was in contact with many scholars of his time. The scroll on our painting, which is held by a putto, is adorned with a Latin text that attests to the artist's height of education: "Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem; (...)". (Begin now, little boy, to recognise your mother by her smile). It is the beginning of the fourth eclogue from Virgil's pastoral songs. In Virgil's Bucolica, a shepherd takes on the role of a prophet. He speaks of a divine boy with whom the dark times (iron age) will disappear and golden times, times of peace, will dawn. Virgil's Bucolica, written as early as 40 BC, has been interpreted by Christians as referring to the arrival of the boy Jesus. After spending time in Italy and at the courts of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague and Duke Wilhelm V in Munich, Otto van Veen was court painter to the prince-bishop in Liège and the governor Alessandro Farnese in Brussels. Around 1592, he moved to Antwerp, where he became dean of the Guild of St Luke in 1602. Here he received a large number of commissions for altarpieces. Our painting was probably created there in the same period as the panel with the "Adoration of the Shepherds", dated around 1595-1600 and now in the Maagdenhuis Museum in Antwerp. We would like to thank Dr Bert Schepers, Antwerp, for confirming the attribution on the basis of a digital photograph (email of 29.9.2021).