Printed with fine black lines on cream-white paper, a man wearing a knee-length tunic and reading from a piece of unfolded paper faces our right against a mostly blank background in this vertical engraving. The man's right shoulder, closer to us, is angled in a way that suggests his torso is turned slightly away from us even though his feet and face are shown in profile. A narrow wreath is almost lost in his dense curls, and he has a straight nose and prominent chin. His fur-lined tunic is belted low across his hips, and a dagger hangs from his belt. His pointed clog-like shoes seem to slip onto his feet like sandals, and he stands on a grassy field in an otherwise empty space. Creases in the paper he holds suggests it had been folded into nine sections.
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Printed with fine black lines on cream-white paper, a man wearing a knee-length tunic and reading from a piece of unfolded paper faces our right against a mostly blank background in this vertical engraving. The man's right shoulder, closer to us, is angled in a way that suggests his torso is turned slightly away from us even though his feet and face are shown in profile. A narrow wreath is almost lost in his dense curls, and he has a straight nose and prominent chin. His fur-lined tunic is belted low across his hips, and a dagger hangs from his belt. His pointed clog-like shoes seem to slip onto his feet like sandals, and he stands on a grassy field in an otherwise empty space. Creases in the paper he holds suggests it had been folded into nine sections.

National Gallery of Art · Print

A Poet Reading

Master of the Playing Cards

Date
1430s
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 13.3 x 9 cm (5 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.) overall (external frame dimensions): 39.4 x 31.8 cm (15 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.)
Classification
Print
Accession number
1999.26.1
Credit line
Gift of Ladislaus and Beatrix von Hoffmann
Time span
1401 to 1500
Department
CG-E

Subjects and terms

  • German
  • occupation
  • genre
  • male
  • figure
  • engraving
  • Playing card
Provenance

Grafen Maltzan, Militsch in Schlesien; (N.G. Stogdon, England, 1998); Ladislaus von Hoffmann, Washington, D.C., 1998; gift to NGA 1999.

Watermarks

none

NGA object ID 108125. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.