(c. 1525-1569)
The Fall of the Magician Hermogenes, 1565, engraving by Pieter van der Heyden, on fine laid paper, inscribed "Bruegel. invent / Io. Gall excud." in the plate, 22 x 29 cm, with tiny margins along plate marks, Bastelaer 118, Hollstein 118, Lebeer 58 III-IV (of V), Lari 113 III (of III), mounted, unframed, (Sch)

The story of St. James the Elder and the magician Hermogenes is part of the Golden Legend (Legenda aurea), which is a collection of originally 182 treatises comprising church feasts and hagiographies (lives and legends of the saints) compiled by Jacobus de Voragine between 1259-1277 to which further stories were added in subsequent centuries. Jacobus de Voragine, who was Archbishop of Genoa from 1292 until his death in 1298, thus created the best-known and most widespread popular spiritual book of the Middle Ages.
The engraving shows a rarely depicted scene from the life of St. James the Elder. According to tradition, the high priest Abiathar turned to the magician Hermogenes to support his fight against James. Hermogenes then instructed his pupil Philetus to dissuade St. James from the true faith. This attempt failed because Jacob, in turn, succeeded in converting Philetus. Hermogenes was so enraged by this that he wrought his magical arts on Philetus and sent his devils to dissuade James from his faith after all. Again, James was stronger and humiliated Hermogenes by having him bound by the devils. At James' behest, the magician was finally freed from the bonds by Philetus and allowed to be converted by James. The scene of the magician's fall shortly before his conversion is impressively depicted in the present engraving. St James stands with raised arm and a pilgrim's staff in front of the entrance to a church and blesses the shackled Hermogenes, who together with his chair has been turned upside down by a host of demons and monster-like creatures. Around him there is wild activity, the demons are depicted in acrobatic contortions, playing musical instruments, dancing on the rope and performing daredevil knife tricks, alongside them there are fire-eaters and fantasy creatures between man and beast, all indications of the presence of dark magic and mischief. Saint James and the crowd standing behind him at the entrance to the church form the counterpart to the chaos and destruction caused by the demons. According to legend, Hermogenes received a pilgrim's staff from St James after his conversion as protection against the devils and had his spell books destroyed.