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Print with Three Grotesque Heads/Masks and Two Figures

After Arent van Bolten Netherlandish
Publisher Pierre Firens I Flemish
ca. 1604–16
Not on view
This print is part of a series of at least 29 prints containing monstrous figures after designs by the Dutch artist Arendt van Bolten. They were almost certainly published in Paris, however, by Pierre I Firens who may also have been the engraver for the series. This print contains three heads/masks presented in a row at top, and two grotesque figures, facing each other, depicted below. Both figures are bipeds with wings instead of arms. Most figures in this print series derive from drawings in an album now kept at the British Museum in London. The head at top left corresponds to drawing no.142, the figure at lower left derives from drawing no. 170, and the one on the lower right relates to drawing no. 147.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Print with Three Grotesque Heads/Masks and Two Figures
  • Artist: After Arent van Bolten (Netherlandish, Zwolle 1573–before 1633 Leeuwarden)
  • Publisher: Pierre Firens I (Flemish, Antwerp 1580–1638 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1604–16
  • Medium: Engraving [2nd state?]
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 5 7/8 × 8 in. (14.9 × 20.3 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, by exchange, 1972
  • Object Number: 1972.543.4
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
More Artwork
Virgin and Child with St. John, Arent van Bolten  Netherlandish, Gilt-silver electrotype., Netherlandish or South German
Arent van Bolten
ca. 1625 (cast 19th or early 20th century)
Corporation Banner of Crossbow Guild, Silk, Flemish
Flemish
late 17th century
Phaeton, from "The Four Disgracers", Hendrick Goltzius  Netherlandish, Engraving
Hendrick Goltzius
After Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem
1588
A Fantastic Creature, Arent van Bolten  Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink
Arent van Bolten
late 16th–early 17th century
Cosimo II de' Medici (1590–1621), Grand Duke of Tuscany, Justus Sustermans  Flemish, Oil on canvas, transferred from wood, Flemish
Workshop of Justus Sustermans
1597–1681

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