Melchior, after Three Magi series by Jacques Bellange
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 5/16 x 7 3/8 in. (28.7 x 18.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1962
Accession Number
62.635.340
Tags
Art Historical Context
This etching, titled *Melchior*, captures one of the Three Magi from a series originally designed by Jacques Bell around 1615. by Matthäus Merian the Elder in collaboration with Jacob van der Heyden, the work translates Bell’s elegant, elongated figures the medium of etching The sheet measures roughly by 7 inches a size well-suited for among collectors and scholars the period. Bellange, active in the duchy of Lorraine, worked in a late Mannerist style that favored graceful poses and intricate detail. Merian and van der Heyden helped spread these designs across northern Europe through printma...