The Prophecy of Isaiah

In April 1609, after some 40 years of fighting in the Low Countries, Spain and the Archdukes who ruled the southern Netherlands from Brussels signed a truce with the Dutch Republic in Antwerp, the city where both painters of this copper plate lived and worked. The museum reads the picture, made around that year, as a response to the news. Its title calls on the prophet Isaiah, and a tablet in the scene carries a Bible text about peace. Close by, a small winged boy is burning a helmet. Three women stand for what peace was meant to bring: good fortune, faith and plenty. Hendrik van Balen, an Antwerp painter of figures and a frequent partner of Brueghel's, worked on it with him. The copper plate measures about 40 by 50 centimetres.