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LUCAS VAN LEYDEN
1494 - 1533 Leiden
Jan Thiel workshop (act last quarter 16th century)
After Lucas van Leyden |
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| A tavern scene (The prodigal son) |
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Engraving, c. 1590
Inscribed in the plate “ghedruckt bij Jan Thiel”
40.5 x 30.1 cm.
Literature; Hollstein (Thiel) 10; Filedt Kok 'Lucas van Leyden - grafiek', 20 (copy 1); NHD (Lucas van Leyden) 193 (copy a/II), Lucas van Leyden en de Renaissance. Leiden: Museum de Lakenhal, 2011, p. 319, no. 113., De Jongh, E., Luijten, G., Spiegel van alledag. Nederlandse genreprenten 1550-1700. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1997, p. 118-123 |
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| The original woodcut by Van Leyden is known only from one, unique impression, dated 1517, now in the Bibliothèque National in Paris. This engraved copy, however, in which the scene is reversed, is also extremely rare, and it had long been known only from one impression with address, in the Albertina, Vienna. The address of the publisher “ghedruckt bij Jan Thiel”, in lower right. Since there exists also a first state before this address it is not clear if the print was engraved in Thiel's workshop or earlier by another anonymous engraver. |
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| In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, brothel scenes such as these were popular illustrations of the parable of the Prodigal son, in contemporary guise. As the prodigal son lavishes his money on women and wine, the jester makes the moralist overtones of this scene but too apparent with the satirical words: “wacht hoet varen sal”. |
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| The rarity of the print, especially in its original form as a woodcut is not remarkable, as these large-format folio often featured as posters in public venues, and most of these ephemeral objects were lost. |
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