Two Naked Children Supporting a Blank Shield

c. 1519

Lucas van Leyden

Artist, Netherlandish, 1489/1494 - 1533

Printed with fine black lines and delicate crosshatching, two nude, chubby boys together brace a shield in this horizontal print. The shield sits with the pointed bottom on the floor and each boy holding one upper corner. The boy to the right rests one foot up on a helmet and holds a lance with a fluttering, forked banner in his other hand. He looks down to our right over his rounded, sloping shoulder. The boy to our left kneels with his left hand, to our right, holding the other side of the shield. A string is tied around the foot of a bird perched on a ledge to the left. The boy holds the other end of the string and looks at the bird. The space behind the boys is shallow, and there is the suggestion of some architectural ornament where the wall comes toward us to the left. The artist signed the print with an uppercase “L” on a square tablet, which leans against the corner of the wall to the left and the floor.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession

    1943.3.5678

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. 166, State (a)


Artwork history & notes

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

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-

Wikidata ID

Q65023460


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