Horse with Two Monkeys and a Dog
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to plate): 3.1 × 5.9 cm (1 1/4 × 2 5/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1980.45.248
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Nicolaes de Bruyn’s 1594 engraving *Horse with Two Monkeys and a Dog* captures a lively gathering of animals in remarkably compact form. Measuring just three by six centimeters, tiny print invites close inspection of its finely incised lines. De Bruyn, a Flemishaver active in Antwerp, in such miniature scenes that often blended observation with moral or emblematic meaning. The medium of engraving on laid paper allowed de Bruyn to render delicate textures—the horse’s mane, the monkeys’ fur, and the dog’s alert posture—with crisp precision. Small-scale prints like this were popular in the late ...
About the Artist
Nicolaes de Bruyn · 1571–1656
Nicolaes de Bruyn was a Flemish printmaker born in Antwerp in 1571, active during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and known primarily for his large, elaborately detailed engravings of landscapes, hunting scenes, and biblical and mythological subjects. He trained in the tradition of Flemish reproductive engraving and was deeply influenced by the work of his contemporaries and pre...