Willem Doudijns - Vetsal virgin with burning incense - 1670s oil on canvas, Height: 73.5 cm (28
Willem Doudijns - Vetsal virgin with burning incense - 1670s oil on canvas, Height: 73.5 cm (28.9 in); Width: 60.7 cm (23.8 in)In ancient Rome, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins (Latin: Vestālēs, singular Vestālis) were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The college of the Vestals was regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome. These individuals cultivated the sacred fire that was not allowed to go out. Vestals were freed of the usual social obligations to marry and bear children and took a 30-year vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were forbidden to the colleges of male priests.In 382 AD, the Christian emperor Gratian confiscated the public revenues assigned to the cult of Vesta in Rome, and the Vestals vanished from historical record soon after.Willem Doudijns (1630–1697), was a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver.According to the RKD he learned to draw from Alexander le Petit, and he spent 12 years in Italy. He returned home in 1661, where he collaborated with Jan de Bisschop on engravings. Both he and Bisschop were founding members of the Confrerie Pictura and Doudijns painted a large ceiling painting for the meeting hall that has not survived. His pupil Mattheus Terwesten made a sketch of this Allegory of the artists leaving the Hague Guild of St. Luke which is now in the Rijksmuseum print cabinet.According to Houbraken he was the son of a mayor, and in Rome he joined the Bentvueghels with the nickname Diomedes. On his return became the head of the Confrerie Pictura. He was known for his wall and ceiling paintings, most notably the Judgment of Solomon in the Vierschaar, or courtroom, of the Hague city hall.His pupils were Erasmus Arondeus, Frans Beeldemaker, Gijsbert de Bije, Bartholomeus van Burgindis, Arnoldus Gouda, Nicolaes Hooft, Pieter van der Hulst, Daniël Jacobsz., Lowys Paen, Nicolaes van Ravesteyn, Pieter van Reenen, Pieter Jansz van Ruyven, Augustinus Terwesten, Mattheus Terwesten, Michiel van der Valck, Daniël Walewijns, Domenicus van Wijnen, and Willem Wissing -- source link
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