The Bohemian Woman
c. 1656-58
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 37.4 × 31.8 cm (14 3/4 × 12 9/16 in.); Sheet: 38.8 × 32.9 cm (15 5/16 × 13 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
9474
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Unlike his contemporaries in 17th-century Holland, Cornelis Visscher adopted engraving rather than etching as his main form of artistic production. Viewed as a master of the complex technique, he made works that were praised and collected. The peasants shown in Visscher’s scenes are both rugged and nearly facetious. His Bohemian Woman depicts a mother acting as a balance beam for three animated children—all demanding some form of attention from her. The combination of her exposed breast with suc...
About the Artist
Cornelis Visscher · 1629–1658
Cornelis Visscher (1629–1658) was a Dutch Golden Age engraver, draughtsman, and printmaker born in Haarlem, the brother of fellow artists Jan de Visscher and Lambert Visscher. Little is known of his early life, but he studied under the Haarlem painter and engraver Pieter Claesz Soutman, with whom he closely collaborated from 1649 to 1650, producing numerous portrait engravings for Soutman's print ...