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This is a drawing of an allegorical scene featuring numerous symbolic figures and objects. The drawing is detailed and elaborate, with mythical and allegorical figures surrounding a framed portrait of a young woman. The young woman is elegantly dressed, and her portrait is held within an ornate frame adorned with foliage and symbolic motifs. Surrounding her are figures such as winged angels, a skeletal figure holding an hourglass and a scythe, and other characters associated with themes of time, mortality, and artistic endeavor. One figure appears to be an artist holding a palette and brushes, gazing out from the lower left. Above, a banner is held aloft by cherubs. The image is rich in symbolism, suggesting themes of time, impermanence, art, and knowledge in the style of the Northern Renaissance.
National Gallery of Art · Print
Bartholomaeus Spranger and his Late Wife Christina Muller
Aegidius Sadeler II, after Bartholomaeus Spranger
- Date
- c. 1600
- Medium
- engraving on laid paper
- Dimensions
- sheet: 29.3 x 41.4 cm (11 9/16 x 16 5/16 in.) (trimmed)
- Classification
- Accession number
- 2012.92.594
- Credit line
- Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
- Time span
- 1551 to 1600
- Department
- CG-E
Subjects and terms
- engraving
- Artist
Provenance
(Hill-Stone Fine Prints & Drawings, New York); Ruth Kainen, Washington, D.C., purchased November 6, 2007; Gift to NGA, 2012.
Inscription
in image, in cartouche at top right: MORS INIQVA QVID TANTVM / DECVS RAPIS? PIETAS AEQVA / QVAE ET MORTVAM SERVAS; in image, in oval around portrait at right: CHRISTINA MVLLERINA VXOR B. SPRANGER; in image, at bottom left: QVID ANTE DIEM VVLTIS? TE / TEMPVS VETAT OCCIDERE. TE / ARTES PRAECLARAE CADERE; below image, at centre: Priuatas lacrymas Bart. Sprangeri Egid. Sadeler miratus artem et amantem redamans, publicas fecit: et / eideim promutua beneuolentia dedicauit. Pragae Anno Seculari; below image, at right: Marco Sadeler excudit
NGA object ID 154017. 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.