In a square surrounded by buildings reminiscent of a Northern European cityscape stands the healing pool of Bethesda. According to the Gospel of John, it was believed that the first person entering its waters after they had been stirred up would be freed from any disease (John 5:2-9). As the scene is populated by many figures – from children playing to customers shopping - the viewer only gradually notices the two main protagonists: Christ, who approaches the pool from the left at the head of his disciples, and an invalid man who, unable to enter the curative waters, is hopelessly lying on the ground. Moved by his conditions, Christ would later perform one of his healing miracles on him, blessing the man and ordering him to stand and walk.

Four centuries after the Flemish artist Johan Wierix signed and dated the drawing in the bottom left side, archaeologists have brought to light the Biblical pool of Bethesda. In 1964, excavations in Jerusalem revealed a complex with two pools. Created around the eighth century BCE, and possibly in use as a Jewish ritual bathing place since the second century BCE, the pools became part of a temple dedicated to Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, during the Hellenistic and Roman period. In continuity with the pagan past, the site of Christ’s miracle had long been a renowned healing site.

This meticulously executed drawing depicts the miraculous healing of a paralysed man by Jesus, as recounted in the Bible’s Gospel of John. The artist Johannes Wierix, who was best known as a printmaker, created the composition soon after having engraved a similar subject by Gerard van Groeningen (around 1515-1576).

In imitation of the art of engraving, Wierix varied the pressure on his pen – as an engraver would do when handling the burin – to produce an overall scheme of darker and lighter tones. 

The inscribed date has been read as 1550 (impossible for this artist), 1580 and 1590; since the composition synthesises pictorial constructions and motifs used in two engravings datable to circa 1585 (both in the Miarcles of Christ suite explained below), it is probably a recapitulary work, justifying the interpretation of the date as 1590. The subject is taken from the Gospel of Saint John, 5:1-12, related to that shown in reverse in 'The Healing by the Pool of Bethesda', plate 10 of a series of 12 engravings depicting the Miracles of Christ. The other plates are after designs by Martin van Heemskerck and the obscure Antwerp draughtsman Gerard P. Groening, but as the Bethesda plate is the only one to bear Wierix's signature, it suggests the composition was his own invention; it must have been engraved in or prior to 1585, when it was included in the 'Thesaurus' published by Gerard de Jode.

unidentified collector, L.2508; Henry Oppenheimer, London (1859-1932); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 10 July 1936, lot 331a; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952) (168 shillings); Witt Bequest 1952

Drawings Gallery Display - Traces: Renaissance Drawings for Flemish Prints, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/06/2022-25/09/2022

Landscapes in the Making: Dutch & Flemish 16-17th Century Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery, Tobu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, 03/11/2000-24/12/2000; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka, 02/02/2001-11/03/2001; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Koriyama, 17/03/2001-15/04/2001

The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986 ...More

van Ruyven-Zeman, Zsuzsanna, '"Stuckxken met de penne": Drawings by the Engraver Johannes Wierix', Master Drawings, Vol. 24, No. 3, Autumn, 2004
p. 242

The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 27
ill. on p. 79

Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977- January 1978
cat. no. 13 ...More

Watermark: n/a.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower left edge, stamped in black ink: unidentified collector (L.2508).

Inscription: Recto: lower left (within the drawing), on the rock, brown ink, signed and dated by the artist: "Johannes Wieriecs / Inven[...] Et Fecit / 15[86?]". Verso: upper left edge, graphite: "131"; upper centre, graphite: two lines seemingly in French erased and now illegible (including under UV); lower centre, graphite: "Jan Wierix b. 1548 or 9 d. after 1615 / The Pool of Bethesda perhaps drawing for engraving Alvin 393 or 394."; lower left edge, graphite, unclear: "Collector Mark Edgar 529[?] (owner unknown)"; lower centre edge, graphite, Colnaghi number: "A.5541".