Martelares (de Heilige Barbara)

Auteur: Albert J. Elen

Deze beschrijving is momenteel alleen beschikbaar in het Engels.

This drawing may have served as an intermediary model for the lost design[1] for the engraving by Boëtius Adamsz. Bolswert[2], which was one of a set of three devotional prints of martyr saints (Stephen, Barbara and Catherine). A slightly larger version of the Rotterdam sheet, probably a copy, is now in Florence.[3] Taking into account the reversed image, the print differs from this preliminary drawing mainly in the upper part of the saint, the palm branch switched to her other hand and the empty hand held up in a different position, the head changed from three-quarters view into profile. These changes Bloemaert had probably worked out in the final design, now lost.

            Details in our drawing can be better recognized when compared with the print, in which they are rendered in greater detail. At left is the tower in which Barbara was secluded by her father Dioscorus to protect her from the outside world. It is her main attribute in representations. In front of the tower is the bathhouse, barely indicated in the drawing, which her father had erected for her. When she escaped from there, after having been converted to the Christian faith and refusing to marry, her father captured her and brought her to justice. After a long ordeal of torture, her wounds healing miraculously, she was eventually beheaded by her own father. Hence the sword lying at her feet. The palm branch is a common symbol of martyrdom. The flying putto above her is holding a wreath above her already crowned head. It is clear why Bloemaert changed the position of her upheld right arm; this was to prevent it from overlapping and thus visually touching the putto.

Possibly the Rotterdam sheet can be identified with the drawing of St. Barbara, which was sold together with a drawing of St. Catherine in the Van Huls sale in 1736. The second drawing is now in Copenhagen.[4]