Midday

c.1595-1598

Jan Pietersz Saenredam, after Hendrik Goltzius

Associated Names
Jan Pietersz Saenredam

Artist, Dutch, 1565 - 1607

Hendrick Goltzius

Artist After, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

The image shows a group of four people engaged in various activities. Most of their bodies are shown, focusing primarily on their upper bodies and arms. On the left, a man is bending slightly forward, holding a saw over a bench. He has curly hair and wears a long-sleeved garment with decorative buttons. Next to him, another man is seated, working with a chisel and plane on a piece of wood. This man wears a hat, and his hair appears to be short and curly. In the center-right, a woman is seated, looking to her right where another woman is slightly leaning towards her. The seated woman has styled hair pulled back, and she wears a dress with a ruffled collar and puffed sleeves. Her hands rest on a musical instrument. The woman at her side has similarly styled hair and wears a simpler dress with a shawl. Around them are various woodworking tools and planks of wood. The background features a large building with multiple stories and a pastoral scene with a figure tending to animals under an open sky with clouds. The upper portion of the image shows a figure among the clouds, depicted as resting and holding a horn.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving laid on paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 21.1 x 15 cm (8 5/16 x 5 7/8 in.) (trimmed to plate mark)

  • Accession Number

    2012.92.598

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 99, State i/iii

  • Series Title

    Four Times of Day (Plate 3)


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Pierre Mariette [1634-1716], Paris (Lugt 1789). Franz Rechberger? [1771-1843], Vienna (Lugt 2133). (Christopher Mendez, London); Ruth Kainen, Washington, D.C.; Gift to NGA, 2012.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2013

  • Northern Mannerist Prints from the Kainen Collection, NGA, 2013 - 2014.

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Vols. I-XV, XVIII, XIX. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, no. 99, i/iii

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Hendrick Goltzius, Marjolein Leesburg, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 686, i/iii

Inscriptions

bottom of image, in plate: HG Inve.; below image, at left, numbered in plate: 3; below image, in plate: Opportuna dies operi, duroqué labori est, / Tunc desudando passim se quisque fatigat. (The day is suitable for work and hard labour, at that time everyone everywhere works himself into a lather.)
[Latin translation from Leeflang, Huigen, and Ger Luijten. Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617): Drawings, Prints and Paintings. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2003, p. 217.]

Wikidata ID

Q76557287

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