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About This Work
A haloed Saint Severinus leans over the reclining figure of Silvinus, who appears to have just passed away in a vaulted chapel or monastic cell. Mourning monks and attendants surround the bed, holding lanterns, torches, and candles that cast dramatic light across the scene. At the foot of the bed, a censer sits on the floor near an altar featuring a crucifix and liturgical candles.
Created by Aegidius Sadeler at the imperial court in Prague, this print reflects late Renaissance interests in the 'Ars Moriendi' and the soul's celestial journey. The Latin inscription's use of 'mystae' (initiate) and the soul's return 'from the stars' (ab astris) highlights the integration of Neoplatonic and Hermetic language into 17th-century Christian hagiography.
Inscriptions(Latin)
S. SEVERINVS. Cum pia SILVINI mens ad praetoria caeli Staret inexhausto Numinis hausta bono; Flebat ad exanimi funus lacrimabile mystae, Plena SEVERINI vita dolore Patris; Et lacrimans socium captis reuocabat ab astris Vin' ait, hac iterum luce, dieq. frui? Quid fruar! abrumpes aeternae gaudia vitae! Viuere quod vestrum est! nil nisi triste mori.
Translation
S. SEVERINUS. When the pious mind of SILVINUS stood at the threshold of heaven, Drawn toward the inexhaustible good of the Divine; The life of Father SEVERINUS, full of sorrow, Wept at the lamentable funeral of the lifeless initiate; And weeping, he called back his companion from the captured stars: "Do you wish," he says, "to enjoy this light and day once more?" "Why should I enjoy it! You would break the joys of eternal life! That which is your living! is nothing but a sad dying!"
Connected Texts
Hermes Trismegistus
The inscription's reference to the soul being recalled 'from the stars' and the characterization of earthly life as a 'sad death' mirrors the Hermetic view of the physical world as a tomb and the soul's ascent through the spheres.
Plato's Phaedo
The dialogue regarding the soul's reluctance to return to the body from eternal joy reflects the Platonic concept of the body as a prison for the divine soul.
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
width 156 mm x height 220 mm
religious
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.