Temperance

published 1559

Philip Galle after Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Associated Names
Philip Galle

Artist, Netherlandish, 1537 - 1612

Hieronymus Cock

Artist, Netherlandish, 1518 - 1570

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Artist After, Netherlandish, c. 1525/1530 - 1569

This is a painting featuring many figures engaged in activities related to science, music, and alchemy. There is a central platform overseen by a figure in robes gesturing towards books. Other figures are operating instruments or reading books. The setting includes a globe and other structures. This piece is reminiscent of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's style known for detailed portrayals of daily life.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession Number

    1980.45.234

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. 315, State i/ii

Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1908

  • Bastelaer, Rene van. Les estampes de Peter Bruegel l'ancien. Brussels: G. van Oest et Cie, 1908.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Philips Galle, Manfred Sellink and Marjolein Leesberg, authors). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 315, state i/ii.

Inscriptions

lower center, on the hem of the central figure's clothes, in plate: TEMPERANTIA (Temperance); lower right, in image, in plate: BRVEGEL; lower margin, in plate: VIDENDVM, VT NEC VOLVPTATI DEDITI PRODIGI ET LVXVRIOSI / APPAREAMVS, NEC AVARA TENACITATE SORDIDI AVT OBSCVRI EXISTAMVS (We must look to it that, in the devotion to sensual pleasures, we do not become wasteful and luxuriant, but also that we do not, because of miserly greed, live in filth and ignorance) [translation from Nadine Orenstein, ed., Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001, p. 191.]

Wikidata ID

Q65579242

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