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Overview
Born in the city of Leiden, Lucas van Leyden was the first Dutch engraver to achieve wide acclaim in his lifetime. He made about 200 prints, mostly engravings, but also woodcuts and a few etchings. He met Albrecht Dürer in 1521 during the German artist's year-long visit to the Netherlands, and Dürer drew Lucas's portraits and bought a set of his prints. It is likely that van Leyden simultanously acquired some of Dürer's prints, as his influence is evident in Lucas's work in the early 1520s.
This print, the 12th in a series of 14, dates from much earlier. Lucas was a child prodigy artist, and this impressive series, made when he was just 16, shows no signs of immaturity. In 1845, the pioneering Anglo-Irish art historian and iconographer Anna Jameson described it as 'magnificent in point of feeling'. St Simon is commonly regarded as an enthusiastic evangelical promoter of the Gospels, hence he is known as 'Simon the Zealot'. Evidently he was widely travelled: the location of his martydom has been disputed, and there are rival claims for Caistor, in England; Iberia (Spain); Samaria in Palestine; Persia; and Armenia. Most accounts however agree on the grisly nature of his martyrdom: Simon was sawn in half. Accordingly in Lucas's engraving, he holds the instrument of his martyrdom, a serrated sword. He appears serenely untroubled by this and confident in his faith.
See: David Maskill, 'Lucas van Leyden 1494-1533 Netherlands', in William McAloon (ed.), Art at Te Papa (Wellington, 2009), p. 26.
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art January 2017