Trophaeum Vitae Solitariae: Triumph of the Solitary Life [male hermits]; engraved in the manner of Maarten de Vos (1532-1603) and published by the Sadeler brothers Johann (1550-1600) & Rafael 1560-1628), Flemish.

About the images on this page

What accounts for the ubiquitous interest in hermits in the eras we consider: the Northern (Flemish and Netherlandish) Renaissance? Here are hermits depicted without the historical or hagiographical representation of a Paul of Thebes or Jerome or Anthony.
While obscure, the engraver has chosen, perhaps, to make them seem more so in their anachronistic or imagined clothing and settings outside cities suddenly isolated (under the rubric of wilderness but sanctified by the presence of hermits). Curious are the modes of each hermit's diurnal existence highlighted by an unusual detail such as Josephat's lions, the tree-dwellers Ioannicus and Geroldus, the cave of Ionnis, the tormenting demons outside the cell of Elphegus, the water-capturing device of Venerius, the secretive mausoleum visited by Paulus. But all the hermit images also propose a novel backdrop: cities, ports, mountains, monuments. Each of the images has its novelty.
Throughout these centuries, we recall that hermits had become virtually extinct, but this wide and disparate set of engravings reminds us of their ongoing historical influence.

FIGURES REPRESENTED

TITLE PAGE
1. Josephat
2. Simeon
3. Antiochus
4. Palamonis
5. Ioannicius (Johannicus)
6. Euthimius and Theoctistus
7. Sebaldus
8. Paternus
9. Gudwaldus
10. Iodocus
11. Alferius
12. Arnulf
13. Suatacopius
14. Theodorus
15. Ioannis
16. Geroldus
17. Patroclus
18. Elphegus
19. Gamelbertus
20. Romuald and Marinus
21.Venerius
22. Antonius
23. Petre Coelestine (Pope Celestine V)
24. Henricus
25. Paulus