The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
c. 1560/1563
Artist, Netherlandish, 1537 - 1612
Publisher, Netherlandish, 1518 - 1570

Artwork overview
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Medium
engraving on laid paper
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
plate: 22.3 × 29.2 cm (8 3/4 × 11 1/2 in.)
sheet: 24.6 × 31.9 cm (9 11/16 × 12 9/16 in.) -
Accession
2017.142.1
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Catalogue Raisonné
New Hollstein, no. 4, State i/ii
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Eugène Stuyck, Antwerp [1912 - 1981] (Lugt 4190). (Susan Schulman, New York); purchased 2017 by NGA.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
2022
The Renaissance in the North: New Prints and Perspectives, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2022.
Bibliography
1993
The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Pieter Bruegel, Nadine Orenstein author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996: no. 4, i/ii
Inscriptions
lower left in image: H. cock excu.; lower right in image: BRVEGEL. INV:; on stairs at upper right: Non noui vos (I know you not); on banderole at center: Ecce sponsus venit exit obviam ei. (Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him); lower center, in plate below image: DATE NOBIS DE OLEO VESTRO, QVIA LAMPADES NOSTRAE EXTINGVUN / TVR. / NEQVAQVAM, NEQVANDO NON SVFFICIAT NOBIS ET VOBIS math. 25 ([And the foolish said unto the wise,] Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. [But the wise answered, saying,] Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. [Matt. 25:8-9]) [translation from Nadine Orenstein, ed., Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, p. 208.]
Watermarks
shield with crowns with L and two fleurs-de-lis, similar to Briquet 8288-8290, after 1512
Wikidata ID
Q77260247