Artist Painting a Nude Woman: Allegory of Visual Perception

c. 1598; published 1616

Jan Pietersz Saenredam after Hendrik Goltzius

Associated Names
Jan Pietersz Saenredam

Artist, Dutch, 1565 - 1607

Robert de Baudous

Publisher, Flemish, 1574/1575 - after 1655

Hendrick Goltzius

Artist After, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

This is a print of an allegorical scene featuring various symbols of arts and sciences. Closest to us, there is a winged cherub holding a rectangular mirror up to a kneeling, semi-nude woman on the right who is draped in fabric. The woman seems to look down at her reflection in the mirror. Behind the cherub, an old man appears to paint the woman, looking towards her as he holds his brush up to the canvas. Three more men are partially visible behind him, all seeming to use tools related to measurement. More tools and objects are scattered on the ground. There is a cat sitting near the bottom-left corner, and a bird flying in the sky near the upper-right corner. In the sky above is a radiant sun, casting light over the background of mountains and a calm sea with ships.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Accession Number

    1973.59.3

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 106, State ii/iii


Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. 72 vols. Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1980: XXIII, no. 106, ii/iii.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Hendrick Goltzius, Marjolein Leesburg, author). Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers, 2012; Part IV, no. 716, ii/iii.

Inscriptions

in image at lower left, in plate: HG. Inuent. I. Saenr. scu. / R. de baudous excudit. 1616.; in margin below image, in plate: Haec memini nocuisse atque oblectasse videntes. [I know from experience that this affords the beholder both harm and pleasure]

Wikidata ID

Q65571290

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