Allegory of Intellect, Memory, and Will

1625

Claude Mellan after Simon Vouet

Associated Names
Claude Mellan

Artist, French, 1598 - 1688

Simon Vouet

Artist After, French, 1590 - 1649

The image features three primary figures in a detailed engraving. The central figure is seated and partially draped with wings, holding a compass to a tablet or book. To the left, another figure is partially draped with wings showing, and to the right, a third figure is fully draped in robes. Two smaller winged cherubs are also present. The background includes architectural elements, trees, and foliage, all depicted in an engraved style, with decorative elements and inscriptions at the bottom.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet (cut within platemark): 54.3 x 37 cm (21 3/8 x 14 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2003.8.2

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Montaiglon 1856, no. 372

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

P. Mariette, 1679 (Lugt 1788). Gust. Schulz (not in Lugt). (Lutz Riester, Freiburg); purchased 2002 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2009

  • The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480 - 1650, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Mary adn Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2009 - 2010, cat. by Emily J. Peters.

Bibliography

1856

  • Montaiglon, Anatole de. Catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre de Claude Mellan d'Abbeville. Abbeville: P.Briex, 1856: no. 372

1939

  • Préaud, Maxime. Inventaire du fonds français: Graveurs du XVIIe siècle, vol. 17 (Claude Mellan). Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1988, no. 259, state only.

Inscriptions

lower right in plate: Simon Vouet / Parisien pinxit / Cl. Mellan Gallus sculp. Romae 1625; lower center in plate: Intellectus et Memoria...Nescia consilij pectore facta bicors

Watermarks

bunch of grapes

Wikidata ID

Q76337532

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