Landscape with the Return of the Spies from Canaan

After Maarten van Heemskerck · 1554–1558
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This engraving was published in Antwerp by Hieronymus Cock, the leading print publisher of his day, after a design by Maarten van Heemskerck; the engraver is not known. It was made in the mid-1550s and is kept in the Rijksmuseum in an album of prints.

Most of the plate is landscape: a huge gnarled tree, a wood, mountains and, far off, the tents of Israel. In the foreground two men carry one enormous bunch of grapes slung from a pole, and others follow with more fruit.

From the text

A single cluster of grapes carried on a pole between two men (Numbers 13:23)

Pomegranates and figs brought back too (Numbers 13:23)

The camp waiting for the spies’ report (Numbers 13:26)

The artist’s own

A Northern forest with an enormous old tree as the main subject

A palm among the oaks, a hint of the East

A man at the edge carrying grapes on his head

Two birds of prey high over the valley

Details

The grapes

Two men carry one huge bunch of grapes hung from a pole on their shoulders.

More fruit

At the edge, a man carries a bunch of grapes on his head.

Further on

Small figures carry more fruit along the path.

The camp

Far off, many tents stand at the foot of the mountains.

An old tree

A huge, twisted trunk fills the right side of the picture.

A palm

A small palm grows among the leafy trees.

Anonymous engraver after Maarten van Heemskerck, Netherlandish, 1498–1574; published by Hieronymus Cock, Antwerp. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-P-1988-297-154; purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds) · Engraving · Image: "Public Domain" (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/); object metadata: CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) — Rijksmuseum Linked Art record.

The verses

Num 13:23–27When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs. Because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there, that place was called the Valley of Eshcol. After forty days the men returned from spying out the land, and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit!