The Virgin holding Christ as a child (Madonna della Sedia)

The SADELER: Flemish family of artists, active throughout Europe. For three generations this family of engravers, publishers and print-sellers played a dominant role in European graphic art, producing work of great variety and high quality. They were descended from a line of steel-chisellers from Aalst . Jan de Saeyelleer (Sadeleer) had three sons, Jan Sadeler I, Aegidius Sadeler I and Raphael Sadeler I, the first generation of engravers, publishers and print-sellers. The religious and political uncertainties of the time forced them to emigrate, and they worked in Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Venice and Prague. The next generation followed in their footsteps, of whom Aegidius Sadeler II, who worked for Rudolf II and his successors, was the most notable. Justus Sadeler, the son of Jan Sadeler I, and the three sons of Raphael Sadeler I—Jan Sadeler II, Raphael Sadeler II and Filips Sadeler—were lesser artists but continued the family tradition. The third generation was represented by Tobias Sadeler (fl Vienna, 1670–75), son of Aegidius Sadeler II; he executed engravings for topographical books. AEGIUDIUS SADELER II Engraver, draughtsman and painter, son of Aegidius Sadeler I. Around 1579 he went with his uncle Jan Sadeler I to Cologne and later, c. 1588, to Munich. None of the Sadelers ever definitely returned to their home district. In 1585 Aegidius was listed as a pupil of Jan Sadeler I in the records of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke. In the first half of his career Aegidius regularly engraved the work of Hans von Aachen, Christoph Schwarz, Peter Candid and Marten de Vos. Among the most important engravings are the series of scenes from the New Testament, the Salus generi humani, the Nativity, the Holy Family with St Anne and Two Angels after von Aachen, the Crucifixion between the Two Thieves after Schwarz, the series of the Four Fathers of the Church after Candid and the series of the Story of David after de Vos.