dated 1651-1700, located in the graphic collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg. Published by Gerhard Altzenbach.
I have selected this picture mainly because of the parasol and because I have the feeling that it is slightly misdated. Let's see whether my feeling is true...
The engraving is part of a series of allegories of the times of day. I also have the Morning, the Evening and the Night - this one is the Noon. Like Telemann's musical representation of the times of day, this one symbolises noon by evoking heat: A high sun with rays beating down on a landscape that offers hardly any shade, a fan, a parasol and a skirt lifted to let some air get to the legs. It's hard to make out, but in the lower right corner there seems to be a naked figure taking a deep draught.
The feeling that "second half of 17th century" is wrong comes from the fact that in most or all post-1650 paintings, women's costume shows long-tipped, stiff bodices with horizontal necklines. This lady, however, has a high waist, a stomacher or the like with ties going across, and triangular tips of lace - a style that was, in the 19th century, called van-Dyck-lace.
In fact van Dijck did paint simliar, stomacher-style gowns with similar necklines in 1636: Mary Villiers and Anne Countess of Clanbrassil. Both have a high waist. Please note how the hairstyles of both those ladies are similar to the one in this engraving. The "evening" engraving even shows a collar simliar to that of Mrs Rombouts, dated 1632. The long, ballooning sleeves with lace cuffs are known from about 1630 until c. 1640. Therefore it is my humble opinion that whoever dated the engraving for the museum erred by 10 years at the very least. We amateur costumers tend to take the verdict of museum people as gospel, but we must not that forget that they're people just like us (to err is human) who often have to have a very broad knowledge of a lot of art techniques across the ages.
Let's look at other details of the picture now. The fan has a ragged-looking edge and four more likewise ragged lines within. These may be lines of string or ribbon that hold it together. This suggests that we're looking at a brisé fan, i.e. one that was completely made of sticks held together with a ribbon. This is suported by the fact that we don't see any division between the bottom and top end of the sticks as would be the case if the fan was made with a paper or skin leaf which would only cover the top of the sticks.
But what I find most interesting is the parasol, an item not often seen in art, especially not this early. There are plenty of post-18th-century parasols in museums, but little is known about this accessory before that. The stick is probably made of wood and quite thick if compared to what we're used to from the 19th century. By comparing its length to the size of the woman, I have determined that it must be about 75 cm long - assuming that she's 160 tall, which is a probable height for the day and age. This puts the diameter of the covering at about 50 cm. The top seems to be quite flat, not bent as we know it, which is not so surprising if you consider that a) the spikes must have been made of wood or maybe whalebone and b) there are no diagonal supports as seen in later parasols. Wood can not be thin and flexible enough for such a bend, and even whalebone does have its limits. There are 16 spikes in evidence, while later parasols (and even modern umbrellas) tended to have eight, sometimes twelve.
If you want to find older Pictures of the Month, you may use one of the above links to jump to a previous edition, and from there to yet older ones etc.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]