Lot 08

Hans von Aachen (1552 - 1615) (follower) THE THREE FATES

Before 1590, a trio of artists began working on a series of prints depicting the life of Jesus Christ, entitled Nicomaxia Vitae. Joris Hoefnagel provided the intellectual basis with deep and complex Christian symbolism, the central scenes were the work of painter Hans von Aachen, and the copperplate engravings based on the models were made by the then young engraver Aegidius Sadeler. One of the fruits of this collaboration was also the introductory sheet of the series, which Hans von Aachen also produced in a drawing version called Curriculum vitae christianae (The Life of a Christian). It depicts the three Fates spinning the thread of life, accompanied by a text from the Book of Job emphasizing its transience. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos were the daughters of Zeus and Themis. They watch over human destinies and spin the thread of life, which they cut at the appointed hour. The composition of the painting is based on this preserved drawing variant from 1589, signed by Aachen, which is now in the collections of the National Gallery in Prague. The work comes from a Parisian collection. Lit.: Eliška Fučíková, Über die Tätigkeit Hans von Aachens in Bayern, Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst 3, F. XXI, 1970, pp. 129–142.