Satyr and two nymphs
Medium
Etching, only state
Dimensions
Plate: 2 5/8 × 3 3/4 in. (6.6 × 9.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917
Accession Number
17.50.18-154
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching, created in 1646 by Wenceslaus Hollar after a design by Adam Elsheimer, captures a playful mythological encounter between a satyr and two nymphs. Measuring just 2 5/8 by 3 3/4 inches, the small scale invites close, intimate viewing, a hallmark of Elsheimer’s influence on Northern European printmaking. Hollar, a skilled Bohemian etcher active in England, translated the scene into a single-state print, preserving fine lines that convey both the figures’ graceful forms and the surrounding foliage. The subject draws from classical mythology, where satyrs—half-human, half-goa...
About the Artist
Adam Elsheimer|Wenceslaus Hollar · 1578–1610
Elsheimer's meticulously detailed small paintings on copper would establish him as the most influential artist to follow Albrecht Dürer. He most likely arrived in Italy ca. 1598, where he quite possibly was associated with Hans Rottenhammer, and then moved to Rome in 1600, where he remained until his death. Comment on works: Landscapes; Religious.