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. The river signifies the split between the Northern and the Southern Netherlands that occurred with the
Beeldenstorm. In the original painting the Protestant fishermen had successfully fished up some believers while the Catholic nets were empty. The "souls" near the Catholic boats were added later. On the left bank are the two princes of Orange behind an orange tree branch;
Maurice and
Frederick Henry. 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. On the right bank of the river are the Catholic cardinals carrying their pope accompanied by
Albert and
Isabella. The various attributes of the fishermen (nets, boats, etc.) are labelled with Latin text to clarify the meaning. 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. ==Provenance==