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Object Type
Museum number: 1857,0214.370
Title: Object: The candle is lighted, we cannot blow out
Description: Portrait of Luther writing seated at table surrounded by reformers in two rows behind; cardinal, devil, pope and monk in the foreground trying to blow out the candle of protestantism placed in the centre; extensive French lettering below identifies the eighteen reformers. Engraving and letterpress
School/style
Materials
Technique: engraving; letterpress
Dimensions: Height: 378 millimetres (sheet size); Width: 401 millimetres (sheet size)
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: One of many versions of a famous composition of the Protestant Reformers first found in the XVIIc. For others, see 1907,0326.31-32; 1877,1208.325; O,3.197; 1914,0209.12. The same design is reproduced on a Delftware dish in the British Museum, see 1891,0224.3. See Sheila O'Connell, 'The Popular Print in England', BM 1999, cat. 5.3, pp. 131-132; P.Tudor-Craig in 'Art Re-Formed' edited by T.Hamling and R.L.Williams, 2007, pp.87-102 and M.Jones 'The Print in Early Modern England: An Historical Oversight', New Haven and London, 2010, pp.162-163, especially footnote 12.
Location: Not on display
Subjects: religion/belief; christianity
Associated names: Portrait of: Martin Luther; Portrait of: Jerome of Prague; Portrait of: Jean Calvin; Portrait of: Philipp Melanchthon; Portrait of: Jan Hus; Portrait of: Théodore de Bèze; Portrait of: John Wycliffe; Portrait of: John Knox; Portrait of: Huldrych Zwingli; Portrait of: Jerome Zanchi; Portrait of: Peter Martyr Vermigli; Portrait of: Martin Bucer; Portrait of: Heinrich Bullinger; Portrait of: Oecolampadius, Johannes
Acquisition name
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1857,0214.370

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