![Pleasures of St Mary Magdalene. Festivities in the garden of a palace, with musicians, dancing, and boats on canals, after David Vinckboons [1576-1629],](https://www.rgwatkins.co.uk/image/cache/catalog/stock/RGW17266-500x500.JPG "Pleasures of St Mary Magdalene. Festivities in the garden of a palace, with musicians, dancing, and boats on canals, after David Vinckboons [1576-1629],")
Engraving, signed on plate by artist and engraver.
The present title was suggested by Larry Silver in 'Peasant Scenes and Landscape The Rise of Pictorial Genres in the Antwerp Art Market' University of Pennsylvania, 2006. Cataloguers have usually used a title like 'Festivities before a Palace' viewing the image as merely one of elegant company making merry, but Kahren Hellerstedt in her 1986 catalogue used the title 'The Dance of Mary Magdalene', identifying the principal female figure dancing in the foreground as that saint. She noticed the similarity of that figure to the depiction of the central group in another engraving of Nicholas de Bruyn after David Vinckboons 'The Feast in the Forest' of 1601. In turn she argues this print was influenced in its composition and execution by Lucas van Leyden's 'The Dance of the Magdalene' published in 1519. Many Dutch and Flemish paintings of this period portray a religious subject via a scene of contemporary life. She also notes that de Bruyn's method of hatching to portray the human form is similar to that employed by van Leyden a hundred years before. The date of 1607 is given by Hollstein, although the print is not dated. The Rijksmuseum dates their impression to 1604. This large and impressive engraving of elegant company in a 'Pleasuance' or pleasure garden of a grand house is of historical importance from a number of points of view. It records the layout of such a garden incorporating topiary hedges, water features, pergolas, statues, and gazebos. There are many groups of musicians, playing different stringed instruments including lutes, viols, viola de gamba, and what appear to be a harpsicord and harp. Trumpeters head the barges. Apart from the central pair, there are other groups of dancers. Picnickers are being served wine in tazze from a jug; nearby large rectangular vessels are in a cooler. The many figures provide information on the costumes of the period.`
Engraving, signed on plate by artist and engraver.
The present title was suggested by Larry Silver in 'Peasant Scenes and Landscape The Rise of Pictorial Genres in the Antwerp Art Market' University of Pennsylvania, 2006. Cataloguers have usually used a title like 'Festivities before a Palace' viewing the image as merely one of elegant company making merry, but Kahren Hellerstedt in her 1986 catalogue used the title 'The Dance of Mary Magdalene', identifying the principal female figure dancing in the foreground as that saint. She noticed the similarity of that figure to the depiction of the central group in another engraving of Nicholas de Bruyn after David Vinckboons 'The Feast in the Forest' of 1601. In turn she argues this print was influenced in its composition and execution by Lucas van Leyden's 'The Dance of the Magdalene' published in 1519. Many Dutch and Flemish paintings of this period portray a religious subject via a scene of contemporary life. She also notes that de Bruyn's method of hatching to portray the human form is similar to that employed by van Leyden a hundred years before. The date of 1607 is given by Hollstein, although the print is not dated. The Rijksmuseum dates their impression to 1604. This large and impressive engraving of elegant company in a 'Pleasuance' or pleasure garden of a grand house is of historical importance from a number of points of view. It records the layout of such a garden incorporating topiary hedges, water features, pergolas, statues, and gazebos. There are many groups of musicians, playing different stringed instruments including lutes, viols, viola de gamba, and what appear to be a harpsicord and harp. Trumpeters head the barges. Apart from the central pair, there are other groups of dancers. Picnickers are being served wine in tazze from a jug; nearby large rectangular vessels are in a cooler. The many figures provide information on the costumes of the period.`
| Condition | Laid down, small margins top and bottom, trimmed to image on side margins, faint crease in sky to right of palace, |
| Publication | ? [1607]. 430 x 700mm size of sheet. Hollstein 172, Wurzbach 98. Hellerstedt, Kahren Jones 'Gardens of Earthly Delight Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Gardens' Frick Art Museum, 1986. No. 16. |
- Product Code: RGW17266
- Availability: In Stock
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£2,850.00