The Toilet of Venus
1631
Medium
Etching in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 15.4 × 9.4 cm (6 1/8 × 3 3/4 in.); Plate: 16.7 × 9.7 cm (6 5/8 × 3 7/8 in.); Sheet: 17.2 × 10.2 cm (6 13/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
223276
Art Historical Context
Created in 1631, Willem Panneels’s “The Toilet of Venus” presents the classical goddess of love and beauty at her dressing table, a subject drawn from ancient mythology that remained popular throughout the seventeenth century. Executed as an etching in black ink on ivory laid paper, the small-scale print—measuring just over six inches in height—demonstrates the medium’s capacity for delicate line work and subtle tonal gradations, qualities that made etching an ideal vehicle for circulating refined imagery among collectors and connoisseurs of the period. Prints such as this one played a vital ...