Country Fair

Johann Theodor de Bry after Sebald Beham

Associated Names
Johann Theodor de Bry

Artist, Flemish, 1561 - 1623

Sebald Beham

Artist After, German, 1500 - 1550

This is an etching of a village scene with various activities and gatherings happening. The central house is surrounded by people engaging in different activities. To the left, there are figures involved in games, socializing, dancing, and holding tools or weapons. In the background, there are riders on horseback, with trees and hills in the distance. To the right, there's a church with a clock tower, where a line of people is entering or leaving. Beside the church, there is a market-like scene with people engaging in trade or bartering. The scene captures the hustle and bustle of a village festival or fair, with a castle in the background.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.3355

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Hollstein, no. 12

Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. 72 vols. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1951: Vol. IV, no. 12.

1996

  • The New Hollstein German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, 1400-1700. (Sebald Beham, Anne Röver-Kann, author). Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers, 2024: no. 499, copy b.

Inscriptions

in margin below image, in plate: Aspice qùam suaeves quareat sibi turba levésque / Rustica delicias, celebrans Encaenia Baccho. / Nulla Sacerdoti reverentia, nulla Dynastae, / Cum quovis jugiter potius sua Gretula saltat. (Look at the way the rustic crowd seeks sweet and transient delights while celebrating the foundation feast of Bacchus. They reverence neither priests nor rulers, for their [the mob's] Gretchen dances with whoever she pleases.) [translation from Keith Moxey, "Peasants Warriors and Wives: Popular Imagery in the Reformation," (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), p. 54.]

Wikidata ID

Q64958943

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