Women's Bath

c. 1505/1510

Printed with regular, hatched lines and shading on cream-white paper, six nude women and two children gather and bathe on and around a platform in a wood-paneled room in this square woodcut. A woman at the bottom center of the composition kneels and looks at us, her body facing out as she tips her head to her right and smiles. She wears a brimless, flaring cap. She reaches into a low-sided pail by one hip with her left hand, to our right, and touches the back of a portly woman with her other hand. That second woman sits facing our left in profile. She wears a straight-sided cap as she looks into the distance. Two women behind this pair have long, loose hair. One stands and holds up a tool, like a bundle of leaves or feathers, over her head so it touches the far shoulder. The other sits on the platform and touches her hair, also looking at us. The fifth woman, behind her, stands with her body facing us but she looks up and to our left. Her hair is pulled back under a headdress and one arm crosses her chest. The sixth woman stands next to the first with one foot on the floor and one propped up on a stool to our right. She stands with her back to us and reaches with her right hand to scratch the underside of her right buttock. Two children look at the group from just beyond the stool. Jugs, buckets, brushes, and other tools lie on and around the platform. Another person enters from a door on the far wall near the right edge of the sheet. That far wall and ceiling are paneled with wood. An arched oven and a jug with spigots are in the back left corner.

Media Options

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

Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

William H. Schab; purchased 1961 by Lessing J. Rosenwald; gift to NGA, 1964.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1984

  • Graphic Survey Show, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., February 1984.

Bibliography

1971

  • Meder [1932] 1971, p. 249.

Wikidata ID

Q65507070


You may be interested in

Loading Results