# Two Sculptors at Night in Rome. Double Portrait of Francois Duquesnoy and Georg Petel

- By: Adam de Coster (Flemish, 1584–1643)
- By: Bernardo Eberhart Keilhau (Danish, 1624–1687)
- Date: 1620-1623
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: height 114 cm, width 95 cm, height 130.1 cm, width 111.4 cm
- Culture: Flemish
- Museum: [SMK – National Gallery of Denmark](https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMSsp810)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/smk/x633f452w_KMSKMSsp810-cropped.tif.jp2/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

We assume that we are seeing François Duquesnoy (left) and Georg Petel because the works of art depicted can be identified as theirs. But it is hardly possible to tell the two artists apart. A single flame is the only source of illumination. One asks oneself what this double portrait is all about? What is being portrayed? In spite of the atmosphere of intimacy the artists stare right ahead of themselves without seeing each other. Their gazes are directed inwards in contemplation. The light accentuates their thoughtful faces as well as their hands, tools, and works of art. Thus, the painting can be read as addressing the conditions necessary for the creation of art: contemplation (inspiration), hands and tools (craftsmanship), and the light itself, understood here as the wellspring of art and as a metaphor for inspiration. Petel's and Duquesnoy's contemplative gazes cross above the source of light. It is here that they, being artists, "touch" each other. This inspiration is what they share and portray here.