Fishing for Souls

Fishing for Souls is a 1614 oil on panel painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Adriaen van de Venne in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

[1] Fishing for Souls shows an allegory of the jealousy between the various religious denominations during the Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and Spain.

In the original painting the Protestant fishermen had successfully fished up some believers while the Catholic nets were empty.

They are accompanied by Frederick V, Elector Palatine, King James I of England and the young Louis XIII of France with his mother Maria de' Medici.

A large fly is painted on as a trompe-l'œil wink to Jan Brueghel the Elder, who created many similar amusing allegories with visual jokes in them.

This painting can be seen hanging in a 19th-century sketch of the gallery of the Trippenhuis before the collection was moved to its present location in 1885