Fishing for Souls

Adriaen van de Venne completed this oil-on-panel allegory in 1614, a date inscribed on an open book within the composition. Although early records attributed the work to Jan Brueghel the Elder or Hendrick van Balen, Daniel Franken definitively assigned the entire painting to van de Venne in 1878. The earliest known owners were Joan Fox and Johanna Tiers in Amsterdam, recorded in 1689. On April 14, 1735, the painting sold for 760 guilders at the auction of Marinus de Jeude's collection in The Hague, likely purchased by William IV, Prince of Orange. By circa 1760, it hung in Palace Het Loo. During the French occupation, the stadtholder's collection was nationalized to prevent confiscation; the work was transferred to the National Art Gallery in The Hague in September 1798 and has remained in the Dutch national collection ever since.

The painting is held in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, with inventory number SK-A-447.

It entered the national collection in September 1798 when it was appropriated for the National Kunst Galerie in The Hague from the holdings of Prince Willem V, following the French occupation; it has remained in the Dutch national collection since then. It was previously recorded in the stadtholder’s inventories at Paleis Het Loo around 1760 and was acquired by Willem IV, Prince of Orange-Nassau by 1735.

Created in 1614 during the Twelve Years' Truce, Adriaen van de Venne's *Fishing for Souls* serves as a complex allegory of the religious and political divisions between the Northern and Southern Netherlands. The work is widely interpreted as a critique of the era's denominational jealousy, favoring the Protestant cause through visual contrasts such as the calm, confident Protestant fishermen against the chaotic Catholic efforts. Art historical scholarship has traced the painting's attribution through a century of debate; it was initially sold as a work by Jan Brueghel the Elder in 1735 and later partially attributed to Hendrick van Balen before Daniel Franken definitively assigned the entire composition to Van de Venne in 1878.

The painting's place in art history is further defined by its trompe-l'œil fly, a visual joke referencing Brueghel's style, and its composition which echoes Last Judgment imagery by strictly separating the saved from the damned. Since its acquisition for the national collection in the early 19th century, the piece has remained a highlighted work within the Rijksmuseum, consistently featured in major catalogs as a significant example of Dutch Golden Age allegory.

Since its acquisition by the Dutch national collection in 1798, Fishing for Souls has been regarded as a centerpiece of the Rijksmuseum’s holdings. It has appeared in every Highlights catalog of the museum since 1808, underscoring its status as a canonical work of Dutch Golden Age allegory.

The painting’s layered religious and political symbolism, together with its trompe-l’oeil joke, continued to animate art-historical discussion into the nineteenth century. Early attributions wavered between Jan Brueghel and Hendrick van Balen, but by 1878 the work was firmly assigned to Adriaen van de Venne, securing its place in Dutch art discourse.