Allegorical Figure of Prudence

Artist/Culture Hieronymus Wierix (Flemish, 1553–1619)

Dateabout 1575

Mediumengraving on cream laid paper

Dimensionsplate: 26.3 x 19.8 cm (10 3/8 x 7 13/16 in.)
sheet: 36.7 x 27.4 cm (14 7/16 x 10 13/16 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

MarkingsWatermark: partially decipherable (fool's head?).

Credit LineSarah C. Garver Fund

Terms

Object number1991.29

Label TextThe Wierix brothers—Jan, Hieronymous, and Anton II—ran a prolific Antwerp printshop. The sons of a painter and cabinetmaker, they probably trained with a goldsmith. The learned a fine style, using tiny burins to engrave delicate hatching. They often worked for the Jesuits, and their prints helped spread post-reformation Catholicism. However, the Wierixes were known for their unruliness. Employers had to extract them from taverns, pay their debts, and get their tools out of hock. Hieronymous nearly went to jail once for throwing a beer jug at an innkeeper’s wife.ProvenanceR. E. Lewis, Inc., Larkspur Landing, CA

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