print
- Museum number
- 2010,7081.76
- Description
-
Boy with long hair, at a window, blowing bubbles; behind him, a woman wearing a shawl and cradling a small dog; next to him on the window ledge, a plumed hat and a glass vase with a flower; above, a small cage and foliage; below a plaque, on which a snail is crawling, with the inscription 'MDCLXIII' written in reverse; after Frans van Mieris the Elder; unfinished state, before date re-engraved the right way round and Browne's privilege added.
Mezzotint
- Production date
- 1684 (circa?)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 255 millimetres
-
Width: 181 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Browne obtained a royal privilege in 1684, which appears to be the date for this plate, since the finished state is lettered with it. There is a French engraving of the plate, identical to this and in the same direction, but with the date in the window-sill correctly orientated. It was executed by Cornelis Hubert van Meurs (fl. 1670s) and has four lines of French verse below the image; it may have served as the intermediary. For more information on the print, painting and related compositions, see Gers Luitjen and J. de Jonge, 'Mirror of Everyday Life: genreprints in the Netherlands 1550-1700', ex. cat., Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, 1990, pp. 301-2 and fig. 7.
States [recorded by Nicholas Stogdon (Christopher Lennox-Boyd database)]
(i) unfinished proof; boy's face and figure muddy in tone; date on the tablet scraped only and reversed; before privilege; this state
(ii) finished; date in the image engraved over mezzotint ground and correctly orientated; lettered 'Mearus Pinxit // Cum privilegio Regis // Sold by Alex: Brown At the / blew Ballcony in littel Queen Street'
Other impressions: London NPG, Belton album, fol. 49v., D11447 (i); Windsor, RCIN 813145 (i); BM, 1861,1109.166, 1874,0808.1130, and 1902,1011.7970 (ii); London NPG, D11903 (ii); CLB (lacking inscription space, presumably i)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2010
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Friends of the British Museum, the Art Fund, Mrs Charles Wrightsman, the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, and numerous individual donors.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2010,7081.76