The Fight over the Trousers
Medium
Engraving printed in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
16.8 × 10.9 cm (6 5/8 × 4 5/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
3802
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Here an enraged woman wielding a distaff as a weapon gains the upper hand over her husband. They are fighting over the trousers on the ground in front of them – that is, for control of the household. This scene is part of Israhel van Meckenem’s series of six prints of couples against a neutral background. It is the only one with a clear narrative and the only one in which the blank scrolls in the upper corners are replaced with imagery: the distaff, used to spin thread and emblematic of feminine...
About the Artist
Israhel van Meckenem, the younger
Israhel van Meckenem the Younger (c. 1440–1503) was a German goldsmith and engraver who became one of the most prolific printmakers of the fifteenth century. Born in Meckenheim near Bonn, he was trained by his father, Israhel van Meckenem the Elder, who was himself a goldsmith and engraver. The younger Israhel may also have worked in the workshop of the Master E.S., whose plates he later reworked ...