The Miraculous Draught of Fishes

In 1617 and 1618 Rubens painted a triptych for the altar of the fishmongers' guild of Mechelen, in their church of Our Lady across the Dyle. The guild ordered it during a short spell of prosperity, after 50 difficult years for the fishing trade, and the subject is their own. Fishermen who have caught nothing all night cast their nets again at Christ's word, and haul in so much that the nets nearly break. This sheet, in chalk and oil on paper, reworks the central panel as a model for an engraving by Schelte à Bolswert, who worked for him in Antwerp. The sketch is wider than the original panel, and Rubens used the extra room. Two more men in the water at the lower edge heave at the net, and a second boat is being rowed in to help with the load.