Malle Babbe, after Frans Hals
Medium
Etching, third state of four (Gonse)
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 1/2 × 13 3/8 in. (47 × 34 cm) Plate: 7 7/8 × 5 7/8 in. (20 × 15 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, 1871, transferred from the Department of Paintings
Accession Number
19.59.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of's Drawings and Prints collection, where you'll find *Malle Babbe, Frans Hals* (1871), a masterful etching by French artist Jules-Ferdinandemart. This third state of four—published by P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.—reproduces Frans Hals' iconic 17th-century portrait of titular figure, a Haarlem eccentric often depicted as a "madwoman" with an owl perched on her shoulder, symbol folly or witchcraft. Acquired by the Met that same year and later transferred from the Department of Paintings, it exemplifies 19th-century efforts to honor Dutch Golden Age masterpieces thr...
About the Artist
Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart|P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.|Frans Hals · 1837–1880
**Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart: Master Etcher and Watercolorist** Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart was born on September 7, 1837, in Paris to Albert Jacquemart, a prominent art collector, ceramics historian, and amateur artist, and Louise Émilie Labbé. The third of four children, he received his initial training in etching from his father, who had no formal master himself and emphasized self-taught preci...