December
Medium
Etching
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.5457
Tags
Art Historical Context
**December** (1628–29) is a delicate etching attributed to Dutch printmaker Jan van de Vel II, with possible involvement from Bohemian etcher Wenceslaus Hol, both masters of the intricate line work that defined 17th-century Northern Europeanmaking. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this piece captures a wintry urban vista, evoking the chill of the season through frozen waterways spanned by bridges, sturdy town buildings, and distant structures huddled against the cold. The title hints at its place in a tradition of seasonal imagery, common in Dutch Gold...
About the Artist
Jan van de Velde II|Wenceslaus Hollar · 1593–1641
Jan van de Velde II (1593–1641) was one of the most accomplished Dutch printmakers and draughtsmen of the early seventeenth century, born in Haarlem into a dynasty of celebrated calligraphers and artists. His father, Jan van de Velde I, was a renowned writing master, and his cousin Willem van de Velde the Elder would later become a distinguished marine painter. Jan II studied engraving under Jacob...