“That There Be No Schisms among You”

Abstract

This essay analyzes an early series of paintings by an Antwerp artist Martin de Vos, commissioned around 1568 by a local entrepreneur and a leading figure of the Calvinist community, Gillis Hooftman, specifically for the dining hall of his residence. The cycle comprised five panels, three of which are still extant: Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas at Lystra, Saint Paul and the Silversmith Demetrius, and Saint Paul on Malta. On the one hand, the series’ focus on the apostolic mission of Saint Paul corresponds with the diversity of Antwerp’s population, and, on the other hand, matches the universal interest in Pauline theology among Catholics and Protestants alike. Therefore, the paintings accommodated different confessional interpretations, while simultaneously precluding accusations of heresy. I further propose that they were actively incorporated into dining rituals and stimulated amicable learned conversations (convivia) among Hooftman’s guests, who indeed represented diverse sectarian beliefs. Finally, I link the paintings’ iconography and the conciliatory spirit of convivia with the preaching of Antonio del Corro, a former Spanish monk active in Antwerp, who fashioned his identity after Saint Paul, and make a case that de Vos’ panels functioned as a visual equivalent of del Corro’s irenic theology.