Malle Babbe, after Frans Hals
Medium
Etching on chine collé
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 7/8 × 13 3/4 in. (48 × 35 cm) Plate: 7 11/16 × 5 5/8 in. (19.5 × 14.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1912
Accession Number
12.191.26
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
[Research in progress for Malle Babbe, after Frans Hals by François Liénard|P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.|Frans Hals|Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart, 1871]
Art Historical Context
This 1871 etching, created after Frans Hals’s celebrated seventeenth-century portrait, captures the presence of Malle Bab, a striking woman shown an owl perched beside. Produced by etcher Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart in collaboration with François Liénard and the firm P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., the print belongs to the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of works on paper. It exemplifies the nineteenth-century practice of reproductive prints, which brought celebrated Old Master paintings to new audiences through accessible yet refined editions. Executed in etching on chine collé, the medium allows fine lines and tonal subtleties to convey the spontaneous, expressive quality for which Frans Hals is renowned. The original painting’s dynamic brushwork and candid characterization are translated here into a graphic language suited to the Victorian era’s growing interest in Dutch Golden Age portraiture. Acquired by the museum through the Rogers Fund in 1912, this sheet highlights how printmakers preserved and reinterpreted iconic images for both study and enjoyment.
About the Artist
François Liénard|P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.|Frans Hals|Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart (French|French) · 1813 |1860 –1894 |1890
French, Paris 1813–1894 Paris|