Hope (Spes) from the series The Virtues

Description

Hope, or Spes, occupies a crowded harbor setting in this engraving by Philips Galle after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. An anchor marks the foreground allegorical figure, while imprisonment, boats and people struggling in the water bring different kinds of uncertainty into the surrounding scene. Published by Hieronymus Cock and dated 1559–60, the print belongs to The Virtues. Hope is considered where danger and difficulty make the possibility of relief especially meaningful.

The composition connects its central subject to many smaller human situations rather than isolating it from experience. Fine engraved lines carry the eye between the foreground, buildings and troubled waters, keeping each incident part of a larger visual argument. The scene allows the virtue to appear practical as well as symbolic. Hope becomes a way of facing circumstances that remain unstable, sustained amid the pressures and complications of ordinary life.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Pieter Bruegel collection.