Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719)

Eternity seated by a five, holding a tablet with the ouroboros in her left hand, her right hand leaning on a sphere, as Wisdom stands nearby leaning on a staft encircled with a scroll inscribed Rerum magistra

Details

Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719)
Eternity seated by a five, holding a tablet with the ouroboros in her left hand, her right hand leaning on a sphere, as Wisdom stands nearby leaning on a staft encircled with a scroll inscribed Rerum magistra
signed (strengthened) A.Houbraken lower left; inscribed Rerum Magistra, II.periode/III.periode and C.B/WERELDSCHE/VERANDE/RINGE on a scroll and books
oil on canvas
168 x 117.8 cm

Provenance

Prakke Collection, Nijmegen.
Anon. Sale, Sotheby's Amsterdam, 22 May 1989, lot 104, ill., as an Allegory of Human Virtue

Lot Essay

The ouroboros, a snake biting his own tail, is an ancient Egyptian symbol for Eternity. The sphere and the text Rerum magistra are derived from C. Ripa, Iconologia of Uytbeeldinghe des Verstands, ed. 1971, pp. 124 & 127 and have the purpose to instruct human being to gain wisdom from daily life practice.
We are grateful to C. Scholten of the RKD for her help in cataloguing this lot.

See colour illustration

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