This is a drawing of a scene with five people, each with a banner near them. One of the people stands in the center, with the others gathered around them. The central figure wears a hat and cape, with a corset-like garment around their waist. There is a rope tied around their throat, the end held by a person in the top left, and another person in the top right holds a hood with long ears above the central person. In the bottom right, a person uses long pilers to remove or insert a bright red heart from the chest of the central person, which has a large red gash. A person on the bottom left dressed like a nun holds up a long sword near the central person. Each of these people has pale skin, and they are dressed differently. They each have banners near them, perhaps identifying them. The red of the heart and the black of the nun's clothes are the only color, and the background is off-white paper.
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This is a drawing of a scene with five people, each with a banner near them. One of the people stands in the center, with the others gathered around them. The central figure wears a hat and cape, with a corset-like garment around their waist. There is a rope tied around their throat, the end held by a person in the top left, and another person in the top right holds a hood with long ears above the central person. In the bottom right, a person uses long pilers to remove or insert a bright red heart from the chest of the central person, which has a large red gash. A person on the bottom left dressed like a nun holds up a long sword near the central person. Each of these people has pale skin, and they are dressed differently. They each have banners near them, perhaps identifying them. The red of the heart and the black of the nun's clothes are the only color, and the background is off-white paper.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

"Do Not Eat Your Heart Out" [fol. 22 recto]

French early 16th Century

Date
c. 1512/1515
Medium
pen and brown ink with watercolor on laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 16.3 x 10.7 cm (6 7/16 x 4 3/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
2006.11.29
Credit line
Woodner Collection, Gift of Andrea Woodner
Time span
1501 to 1550
Department
CG-E

Portfolio and series

Series
Speculum principis (Mirror for Princes)

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • Costume
  • Weapons
  • Figures
Provenance

(Sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 July 1937, lot 64); (sale, London, Sotheby's, 15-17 November 1937, lot 546); (sale, London, Maggs Bros., Ltd., catalogue 709, 1941, no. 30); (purchased by William H. Schab Gallery via Paul Graupe); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, by 1973; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.

Inscription

across top in pen and brown ink: CuriaLis / SoLicitudo; across bottom in pen and brown ink: ABVSVS / Prudentia. / Cura.; lengthy notation verso

NGA object ID 86036. 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.