






Portrait of the heretic, Harman Van Sant Schoemaker from Historische beschr? It is a copperplate engraving printed on a thin sheet of fine old laid paper. It is trimmed to within plate mark and tipped onto a cardstock sheet. The print measures 6 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches and has a loss to the bottom left corner. There is a beautifully handwritten sepia ink Dutch language notation that has also been tipped to the backboard. The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam has an impression of this print in their permanent collection. Hermannus de Schoenmaker was a Dutch Anabaptist and self-proclaimed prophet, who by his unsound fanaticism (he called himself the Messiah and even God the Father) caused much disturbance in the Dutch province of Groningen in 1535. He was arrested and put in prison in Groningen, where he soon died insane. The portrait shows Schoenmaker, half naked in the bed from which he preached to the people. In one hand he holds a trident, in the other a pitcher, and next to the bed is a wine barrel.
