XXX: Thirty Years
c. 1599
Medium
engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 12 cm (4 3/4 in.) (circular, trimmed within platemark) mount: 18 cm (7 1/16 in.) (octagonal)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Robert H. and Clarice Smith
Accession Number
2022.181.84
Art Historical Context
**XXX: Thirty Years** Created around 1599 by Crispijn van Passe I, a masterful Dutch engraver from the van de Passe family, this intimate circular print measures just 12 cm across on laid paper. Trimmed close to the platemark and mounted octagonally, it exemplifies the refined printmaking of the late Northern Renaissance, when engravings served as accessible windows into art, portraiture, and symbolism for a growing collector class. Engraving, van de Passe's specialty, involved meticulously incising lines into a copper plate with a burin, inking it, and pressing onto paper to capture exquis...