The End of Times

Paulus de Kempenaer, [manuscript leaves with drawings and text in Dutch, no title]. Northern Netherlands, 1597. M 310

Brussels-born De Kempenaer (c.1554-1618) devoted the last years of his life predominantly to poetry, drawing, theology, occult sciences, and some prophecies of doom. He recorded his beliefs and eventful life’s journey as a Protestant exile in a series of fascinating manuscripts. A Protestant and supporter of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, he emigrated to the Northern Netherlands in 1584. This unpublished autograph manuscript was intended for Petrus Plancius, not in his capacity as cartographer, but as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. The emblem representing a man separating the corn from the chaff and the other two emblems, each representing a goose, are a message urging him to ignore his rivals and to ’stand fast’ in his convictions. The numerous Scriptural references are there to remind him that the end of time is at hand.