Chapter 15 of 90 · 411 words · ~2 min read

XV.

ISAAC VOSSIUS

ISAAC VOSSIUS was born at Leyden in Holland, one of the sons of the renowned scholar Gerard John Vossius by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Francis du Jon (Junius) (1545‒1602), French theologian and philologist. All the sons were precocious scholars, but Isaac was undoubtedly the most eminent.... He was invited by Queen Christina of Sweden, one of the most erudite women of her time, to come and shed the lustre of his learning upon Stockholm. He arrived towards the end of 1649, was appointed a Court Chamberlain, and taught the Queen Greek. In 1650 he sold her his father’s library for twenty thousand florins, with the stipulation that he received five thousand florins yearly with board and residence for its superintendence. In 1652 owing to certain differences he left Sweden. In 1655 Manasseh Ben Israel dedicated to him:――

(_12mo._ 6 _ll._ + 259 _pp._ + 3 _ll._ + 4 etchings at _pp._ 5, 87, 160, 180.) [I. S.]

“_All muy noble y doctissimo Señor_ Isaco Vossio, Gentil hombre de la camara de su Magestad, La Reyna de Svedia.

_Muy noble y doctissimo Señor, ... Intimo amigo y afficionado servidor de V. M._,

Menasseh ben Ysrael.

_Amsterdam 25. de Abril, An. 5415._”

In a list of Manasseh’s works at the end of the volume, it is catalogued “Piedra preciosa; o de la Estatua de Nebuchadnesar, donde se sexpone lo mas essencial del libro de Daniel.” It was for this small volume that Rembrandt designed and etched four illustrations.¹

¹ Rembrandt’s etchings for the Piedra Gloriosa, by [Dr.] I[srael] A[brahams] [M.A.], with facsimiles, Jewish Chronicle, 13 July, 1906, _pp._ 39‒40: The second series of illustrations for the Piedra Gloriosa of Manasseh Ben Israel, by Israel Solomons, _ibid._, July 27, _p._ 31.

Vossius was created D.C.L. at Oxford in 1670, and installed to a prebend in the royal chapel at Windsor in 1673, which was presented to him by Charles II. (1630‒1685), and died at Windsor 21 Feb., 1688. He had accumulated the finest private library in the world, including 762 manuscripts. It was sold at Leyden in 1710 for thirty-six thousand florins. A large number of original letters of Vossius are preserved at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.