Row on, Sister, row! 1 copy worldwide.

[Nuns]. Roeÿt aen SUSTERKEN roeÿt / Al Sÿt ghÿ dickwils vermoeÿt / In die zee der tribulatien / Ick Sal u Stercken met mÿn gratien. S.l. [Antwerp]: s.n., s.a [17^th century]. [9.0 x 6.4 cm], [1] f. engraving, with contemporary hand-color. Trimmed on the platemark, colors still fresh and vibrant.

Very rare (1 example worldwide: Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht) 17^th-century hand-colored engraving depicting a nun rowing a boat on turbulent seas while Christ steers the rudder.

The four lines of Dutch verse at the foot of the print may be translated: “Row on SISTER, row / Even if you are often weary / In that sea of ​​tribulations / I will strengthen you with my grace.”

The copy in the Museum Catharijneconvent (inv. no. ABM dp1927) is colored in exactly the same manner as our example and is trimmed in the same way.

The Belgian folklorist Emiel Henri van Heurck (1871-1931), who wrote the fundamental article on Antwerp devotional prints, knew the engraving and was especially charmed by it: “Une image charmante et qui ne manque pas d’un certain pathétique est celle de la religieuse poussant à la rame une barque dont Jésus conduit d’une main le gouvernail, tandis qu’il retient de l’autre l’extrémité de la voile gonflée par le vent. De quand peut-elle dater? On l’ignore. Le nom du graveur ou de l’éditeur a été efface” (p. 78). He cites other examples of the subject signed by Abraham van Merlen (1579-1660) and Jacques de Man (fl. 1676-1719).

* E.-H. van Heurck, “Les images de dévotion Anversoises,” De Gulden Passer, vol. 8 (1930), pp. 67-166, esp. p. 78 and illustration following p. 114.