Mars and Venus exposed by Phoebus
Artist
Jan Saenredam
Dutch, ca.1565 - 1607
ArtistAfter
Pieter Isaacsz (Isaacz)
Dutch, 1569-1625
Date1604
MediumEngraving (printed in sepia?) on laid paper
DimensionsSheet: 6 3/8 x 8 7/8 in. (16.2 x 22.5 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineGift in memory of Leon H. and Marie Buttlar Sparling by their family
Object number2008.20.11
On View
Not on viewCollections
- Works on Paper
SignedEngraved in the upper left "Petrus Isach./pinxit." and below this "Joan Saenredam/Sculp, et excu./ 1604"
InscribedLegend engraved in the plate, below the image area : (roughly), "Quod Veneris prifci et martis finxere Hymeneum. Quing capi sensus lepida sub imagine dicunt. Jdg revelatum lampada Phoebe tuo;Quos sic evictos blanda libida ligat."
In the lower left of the sheet, front, erased remnants of a penciled "Saenredam". At the lower right erased penciled letters, illegible.
On the reverse: Fo[?]i in pencil script at upper center; "18 8 [or X?] 47" in pencil at the upper right; "30" in pencil at the lower right.
Cut out of old mat and glued inside new mat a label typed "Original copper engraving/early 17th century".
Penciled in lr of new mat "Jan Saenredam/Mars and Phoebe With a Chalice/of Wine (1604)".
DescriptionA male nude (Mars, god of war) seated amidst lavish silk draperies and cushions, leaning forward to caress a female nude (Venus) who leans back between his bent knees, her bent left arm resting over his left leg. She raises a stemmed wine cup in her right hand while gazing up into his face. In the lower left the upper half of a winged putto (Cupid) holds a seashell and gazes up at the raised wine glass. Mars' armor leans in the lower right of the image, pressing into the viewer's space. An arched opening with stone sill at the left holds a covered urn with figural finial, the right pilaster is ornamented with a female figure.An extensive legend is inscribed in the plate below the image area. See Inscriptions.
This print is on a sheet that has some printing on the reverse (a partial plan of a shaped panel between two molded stiles) and per the appraiser, Armin Kunz, this is referred to as a "spoilt [spoiled] sheet of paper." An example of the printer reusing a sheet that had perhaps been used for a trial printing of another plate and the sheets were large enough to be cut and "recycled."Exhibition History"Old Master Prints from the Sparling Family Collection", Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, February 28 - May 24, 2009.ProvenanceBefore 1938, New York, NY, William Randolph Hearst (according to Richard Helbig)
By 1941, New York, NY, Gimbels Department Store
New York, NY, Richard Helbig
2006, Houston, TX, Tobin Sparling
2008, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust
