Pieter Lisaert (Antwerp 1595-1629)

The Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Virgins

oil on marble
46.5 x 57.2 cm (18 ⅜ x 22 ½ in.)

Pieter Lisaert was baptized in Antwerp on October 1, 1595 in the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk.¹ He was the son of the successful art dealer Philips Lisaert and Susanna Bernouilli. Pieter was first married to Susanna van Horne. From this marriage came a son in 1627, Philips, who died rather young, as well as the mother. The same year, Lisaert remarried to Johanna van Haecht. This marriage did not last long, due to Lisaert’s own death, probably in 1629. On October 29, 1630, Johanna van Haecht, already remarried, entered into a agreement with her former mother-in-law regarding the inheritance of her deceased spouse.

Although Pieter became a free master in 1615 in Antwerp, he is most often documented in sources as a merchant. Also, the fact that no pupils of his are known, seems to suggest that he was more active as an art dealer than as an artist. Lisaert’s artistic production is too small to allow for a stylistic development, even though he was employed as a court painter to Philips III.

The subject of The Wise and Foolish Virgins comes from Matthew 25:1-13, and tells the parable of the maids of honor who, according to eastern wedding custom, accompanied the bride to the house of the groom. Five of the ten maids had imprudently failed to provide themselves with oil. When the groom arrived at midnight, the five wise virgins entered the house, but the foolish virgins, whom had meanwhile gone to buy oil, returned later to find the door closed against them. The wise virgins, on the right of the painting, are keeping themselves occupied with sewing, spinning, bible study, praying and filling of the oil lamps. The foolish virgins at the left are enjoying their leisure time dancing and playing music. By recounting this parable, Christ was warning his listeners to be in a state of preparedness for the Second Coming.

Pieter Lisaert painted this subject on at least four other occasions. One painting on panel, showing a different composition, is in The Prado, Madrid (73 x 104 cm, inv. no. 2724).² A version nearly identical to the Madrid painting, also on panel, was with our gallery until 2004 (74 x 105.5 cm). A third, signed work is in a private collection in Seville, Spain,³ and a fourth painting, also signed, is apparently in a private collection in The Netherlands. A composition similar to the one in the Prado is known by Frans Francken the Younger in a private collection in Germany, dated 1616.⁴