A detailed circular engraving by Crispijn van de Passe (I) depicting the biblical scene of Jonah being cast ashore by the great fish.

This engraving depicts the biblical narrative of Jonah being expelled by the great fish onto dry land. The composition is circular, a format frequently utilised in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries for series of prints illustrating religious or moralising themes. Crispijn van de Passe (I) was a highly skilled engraver and publisher, known for his technical precision and his ability to translate the designs of other artists into the medium of print. This particular work is based on a design by Maarten de Vos, a prolific Flemish painter whose compositions were widely disseminated through such engravings. The scene captures the moment of Jonah's emergence from the sea creature, his posture conveying a sense of urgency and relief. In the background, a ship sails upon the water, providing a sense of scale and narrative context. The surrounding landscape includes a distant town and rocky formations, rendered with the fine hatching and cross-hatching techniques characteristic of the period. The circular border contains Latin text, which serves to identify the biblical source and provide commentary on the event. The work demonstrates the collaborative nature of the print trade in the Netherlands, where designers, engravers, and publishers worked in concert to produce high-quality imagery for a growing market of collectors and scholars. The clarity of the line work and the balanced arrangement of the figures reflect the aesthetic priorities of the era, where narrative legibility was combined with technical mastery. This print is an example of the widespread influence of Dutch and Flemish printmaking during the late Renaissance, a period when the circulation of such works played a role in the visual culture of Europe.