The Primitive Reformers - Oil on Canvas by English School Master 1600/1700 17th/18th Century

The primitive Reformers is an interesting, rare and original oil painting on canvas, realized by an anonymous artist of the English School around XVII-XVIII century. Original Title: The Primitive Reformers (Portrait of Martin Luther with the main figures of the Protestant Reformation with a cardinal, a devil, a pope and a monk at the bottom trying to extinguish the candle of Protestantism). This original painting remembers an original etching (specular in the composition), titled ''The Primitive Reformers'', published between 1768-69, in a literary volume called England's Bloody tribunal or popish cruelty display by Matthew Taylor. Our painted specimen is really precious because this is the unique important testimony known today. The scene, horizontally built and closed at the sides by two curtains, represents a group of twenty-three characters arranged on two foils around a long table. The figures represented are the most important personalities of the Reformation, of Protestant martyrs and of some late medieval theologians, considered precursors of Protestantism. At the center of the composition, facing the figure of Martin Luther, there is a lit candle (a symbol of the Reformation itself). In the opposite of the table, there are a pope, a devil, a cardinal and a monk with the aspergillum; these are the allegories of the Catholic Church trying in vain to extinguish the fire of the Reformation. Further information is given from the writing on the table (reported only on the etching): The candle is lighted, we cannot blow it out. The Primitive Reformers published in the literary volume by Matthew Taylor is one of the many versions taken from the engraving printed around 1640 by the London publisher Thomas Jenner, considered the prototype of a Protestant iconography, popular until the end of the 18th century. Reference Bibliography: Joke Spaans, Face of the Reformation, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, Church History and Religious Culture 97 (2017), pp. 408 - 451. This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under existing legislation, any artwork in Italy created over 70 years ago by an artist who has died requires a licence for export regardless of the work’s market price. The shipping may require additional handling days to require the licence according to the final destination of the artwork.