Soo D'oude Songen Soo Pepen De Jongen (As the old sing, so the young twitter)

c. 1640

Schelte Adams Bolswert after Jacob Jordaens

Associated Names
Schelte Adams Bolswert

Artist, Flemish, 1586 - 1659

Jacob Jordaens

Artist After, Flemish, 1593 - 1678

This image depicts a group of people sitting closely together at a table. The central figure is a woman holding a child on her lap. The woman has curly hair and is wearing a patterned hat and pearl jewelry. The child she holds is playing a flute. To the left, an elderly woman sits in a high-backed wicker chair, reading a document. Behind and partially to the left, a dog is looking attentively towards the group. On the far right side, a bearded man with glasses reads aloud from a book held open in front of him, gesturing with one hand. Next to him, a second man plays a wind instrument, dressed in a loose shirt with a vest and a cloth cap. At the table, a boy is seated, eating grapes while looking towards the woman and child. The table is covered with a cloth and spread with various objects. The background is a detailed wall featuring elaborate designs and text framed with decorative elements.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed within platemark): 32.2 × 44.1 cm (12 11/16 × 17 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1975.2.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 293, State iii/v


Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1996

  • Scenes of Daily Life: Genre Prints from the Housebook Master to Rembrandt van Rijn, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1996, as The Family Concert (As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young) by Schelte Adams Bolswert.

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. German engravings, etchings and woodcuts ca. 1400-1700. 8 vols. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954-1868. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. Vols. I-XV, XVIII, XIX. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberge

Inscriptions

recto: in plate, in image, at upper center: Soo D'oude Songen Soo Pepen De Jongen.; in plate, below image, at left: I. Iordaens inuent. et pinxit.; in plate, below image, at center: A Bloteling Excudit Cum Privilegio.; in plate, below image, at right: S. à Bolswert Sculpsit.

Markings

none

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q65577206

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