Flâneur

Landscape with Ruins and Two Cows at the Waterside, from a series of four horizontal Roman Landscapes

Jan Both, 1645/50

Etching on ivory paper

Jan Both was one of the principal Dutch painters of idyllic Italian views. This print, one of a series of four horizontal Roman landscapes, is in the artist's mature style and was probably executed in Utrecht after his return from Italy in 1641. The variety of linear treatment and the deeper etching of the foreground reveal Both's efforts to capture the effects of Italy's golden light.

Judith

Jan Sanders van Hemessen (Netherlandish, active c. 1519–1556), c. 1540

Oil on panel

Jan Sanders van Hemessen portrayed the Jewish heroine Judith as a muscular nude to be both admired and feared. When the Assyrian army threatened Judith’s people, the handsome widow saved them from slaughter by infiltrating the tent of the enemy general, Holofernes, to win his confidence and then behead him. Van Hemessen’s life-size interpretation reflects contemporary male ambivalence toward female...

Italian Landscape with Travelers

Jan Both (Dutch, c. 1618–1652), c. 1650

Oil on canvas