Willem van Swanenburg
Dutch, c. 1581/82–1612
(after Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish, 1577–1640)

Supper at Emmaus, 1611, Engraving
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago; Purchase,
Paul and Miriam Kirkley Fund for Acquisitions
2003.84

Pieter van Sompel
Flemish, c. 1600–still active in Haarlem, 1644
(after Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish, 1577–1640)

Supper at Emmaus, 1643, Etching
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago;
Purchase, Paul and Miriam Kirkley Fund for Acquisitions
2003.85

Rubens harnessed the power of reproductive printmaking to boost his reputation, attract new commissions, and provide additional income. In order to ensure fidelity to his original works, he not only hired and supervised his printmakers, but also retouched their proofs.

In his print after the Supper at Emmaus, on view nearby, Van Swanenburg—one of Rubens’s first engravers—captures the strongly sculptural quality of the painter’s early work. Van Sompel’s later etching transmits the softer quality more often associated with Rubens. Comparing this pair, note how the reproductive engravers—rather than merely “copying” the painting—made critical decisions about framing, tonality, iconography (Sompel added a halo), inscription, emphasis, and mood.