Flemish School of the 17th century, from Sadeler, The Family of Enoch

Flemish School of the 17th century, from Sadeler

The Family of Enoch

Oil painting on canvas

cm. 49 x 115, Frame 68 x 134 cm

Deriving from an engraving by Johannes I (Jan) Sadeler (Brussels, 1550 – Venice, 1600), the painting in question pictorially returns the episode narrated in Genesis. Born in Brussels, Jan Sadeler belonged to a family that successfully dedicated itself to the production, edition and distribution on the market of prints. Jan was the first to practice the art of the burin.

Enoch and his family, consisting of his brother Idris and his sister Azrial, along with their parents Iared and Baraka, pray before enjoying a frugal meal, while the servant leaves the house with alms for the poor. The narration then continues in the detailed landscape where the action takes place, with the assumption of Enoch into heaven during a sacrifice. According to the Apocalypse, Enoch will return to earth, with the prophet Elijah, to fight the Antichrist.

Enoch is an antediluvian biblical character, the sixth direct descendant of Adam and Eve along the line of Seth (the so-called "great genealogy of the Sethites" cited in the Book of Genesis (5, 21-23[1]) and in the Letter of Jude where it is expressly said that he was "the seventh [patriarch] after Adam" (Jude 14[2]).

Son of Jared, he in turn begets Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah. His end is particular: "Enoch lived in all 365 years, and walked with God; and then he was seen no more, because God took him". This enigmatic verse gave rise to the tradition according to which he was taken up to Heaven (as would later happen to the prophet Elijah). "Enoch pleased the Lord and was taken up, an instructive example for all generations", says Sirach 44, 16[3]. This is also how he is found in the New Testament: "By faith Enoch was taken up, so that he did not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him up. Before he was taken up, he had this testimony, that he was pleasing to God" (Hebrews 11, 5). This moment is represented in the painting in question in the landscape in the background, an episode consequent to the narration in the foreground.

Sadeler's engraving is based on a painting by Gillis Mostaert (Hulst ca. 1534 – Antwerp 1598) preserved at the Voronezh Regional Art Museum. A pupil of Jan Mandijn, he painted landscapes animated by biblical episodes and war scenes (The Burning of Troy, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum). His works have often been confused with those of Marteen van Cleve. His twin brother Frans (d. 1560) was also a landscape painter.