Saint Thomas Aquinas with his two sisters in the fortress of Roccasecca.

Copperplate, 21 x 14,8 cm, signed in lower centre "C. Boel", numbered in lower right "8.", mark on verso.

Very nice plate from the series published in van Veen's "Vita D. Thomae Aquinatis", by the Antwerp engraver C. Boel - or Bol - (1576-ca. 1621), pupil of Jan Sadeler. Lettered in lower margin with five lines of Latin text: "Aggreditur eum blandimentis mater [...] sacris se virginibus aggregare". Thomas Aquinas was probably born in the castle of Roccasecca, near Aquino (Sicily), in 1225. At the age of nineteen he decided to join the Dominican Order, against his parents' will. He was held prisoner for almost one year in the family castles at Monte San Giovanni and Roccasecca in order to push him into renouncing his aspirations. During his captivity, he spent his time communicating with Dominican friars and tutoring his sisters, as represented here.
Ref. Hollstein III:10-22. - British Museum 1860,0211.76.