A Man Caressing the Young Hostess
Cornelis Pietersz. Bega (Dutch, 1631/32-1664)
1660/64
- Medium
- Etching in black on ivory laid paper
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Image: 19.8 × 16.5 cm (7 13/16 × 6 1/2 in.); Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 22.6 × 17.3 cm (8 15/16 × 6 13/16 in.)
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- John H. Wrenn Memorial Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Cornelis Pietersz Bega’s talents were wide-ranging—from painting and drawing to etching—and genre scenes of everyday Dutch life were his principal subjects. In this etching, Bega depicted an interaction between lecherous drunkards and a young tavern hostess. On the makeshift barrel table are a bottle of alcohol and coals for the pipe. The ace of spades, one of the three playing cards scattered on the ground, symbolizes death, suggesting the work’s moralizing message.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
