The Cradle after Nicolaes Maes, Antique Dutch Interior Etching, circa 1875
€ 330
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1875
Mapmaker / artist
Nicolaes Maes (painter), unsigned etching
Publisher
Not named on the sheet
Technique
Etching
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
34.5 × 25 cm (13.6 × 9.8 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-13194-11
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light wear to the bottom left corner. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Printed image clean.
About this sheet
A little girl in a white cap and broad white collar sits beside a wicker cradle and looks out at us with a shy, happy smile, one hand resting on the cradle's edge as she rocks it. Inside, a baby sleeps under the cradle's hooded canopy, wrapped in a blanket. Behind her stands a rush-seated chair, and to the right a table covered with a heavy patterned rug carries an open book and a stoneware jug with a pewter lid. The rest of the room falls away into deep shadow, and a plain wooden floor runs forward to the edge of the image, so all the light gathers on the child's face, the cradle and the tabletop.
The composition is after Nicolaes Maes, the Dutch painter and pupil of Rembrandt who made the quiet household interior his own in the 1650s. Its source is his painting "A Little Girl rocking a Cradle," now in the National Gallery, London, and the etcher has copied Maes's monogram, "N.M.," into the lower right corner of the image. No etcher's name is printed on the sheet.
This is an etching, worked with fine, closely laid lines that render the woven wicker, the patterned rug and the glazed jug with care, against a dark background built up in dense hatching. The plate mark is visible, with broad margins around the image.
A tender subject for a nursery, a family room or a collection of Dutch Golden Age scenes; it looks especially well in a simple black frame.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
