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'The Candle is lighted, we can not blow out' (Leading Theologians of the Protestant Reformation)

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'The Candle is lighted, we can not blow out' (Leading Theologians of the Protestant Reformation)

published by John Garrett
line engraving, after 1673
10 1/8 in. x 14 5/8 in. (257 mm x 372 mm) paper size
Given by the daughter of compiler William Fleming MD, Mary Elizabeth Stopford (née Fleming), 1931
Reference Collection
NPG D24005

Artistback to top

  • John Garrett (active 1676-1697), Publisher and bookseller. Artist associated with 1 portrait.

Sittersback to top

This portraitback to top

This seventeenth-century image shows a cardinal, the devil, the pope and a monk attempting to blow out the candle of Protestantism that sits before Martin Luther at the centre of the table.

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Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1673back to top

Current affairs

Controversially, James, Duke of York marries a Catholic, Mary of Modena, daughter of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena.
Parliament passes anti-Catholic legislation, the Test Act, which excludes recusants from public office. Officials are required to take an oath and deny the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.

Art and science

Poet laureate, John Dryden, influenced by the war against Holland, writes Amboyna, a tragedy about the Amboyna massacre,1623, when English sailors were murdered by Dutch traders in Indonesia.
The Chelsea Physic Garden is established by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to train apprentices in plant identification.

International

War with Holland culminates in the Battle of Texel which effectively exhausts both sides, but results in a strategic Dutch victory. With tension mounting between the allies, lord of the Admiralty, Prince Rupert, blames the unsatisfactory outcome on French admiral d'Estrees, and poor provisions.

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