MARTIN DE VOS’ DRAWING “THE HERMIT” IN THE CONTEXT OF INTEREST IN THE TOPIC OF SOLITUDE AND SECLUSION IN EUROPEAN CULTURE AT THE END OF THE 16TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article links the drawing of Martin de Vos (inv. R-7200), in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, with the engraving for which it was a modello. This allows us to identify the hermit as St. Bavo and to date the drawing 1593–1594, thus correcting the previous proposals of 1585/86 or about 1600. The Moscow sheet is one of about 120 drawings created by M. de Vos for five series of engravings depicting pious hermits, which indicates a great interest in this topic at that time Consideration of these series and their further functions reveals their connection with the world of Catholic Europe, the ideas of the Counter-Reformation and the teachings of Ignatius Loyola, which revived the cult of the holy hermits and preached solitude, for reflection and prayer, as a way towards spiritual improvement in accordance with Christian values.