Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662)

Details

Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662)

"Lief om Leet": Cupid directing lovers into a Love Trap, as a woman resists the avances of a boor and Death approaches an elegant couple nearby - en grisaille

signed lower left AP(linked):V;Venn. and inscribed with the motto on a scroll lower right, oil on panel
54.5 x 71 cm

Provenance

Princesse de Merode, Brussels

Literature

A. Plokker, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne (1589-1662) de grisailles met spreukbanden, 1984, p. 177, no. 69 (as whereabouts unknown)

Lot Essay

The composition is a variant of Van de Venne's design for a print to illustrate Jacob Cats' poem 'Afbeeldinge van't huwelyck, en 't geen daer omtrent is, onder de gedaente van een fuyck', which appeared in his Ouderdom, buyten-leven, en hof-gedachten, op Sorgh-vliet of 1656. The poem warned against promiscuity and stressed the inviolability of the marriage vow. Van de Venne collaborated with Cats as an illustrator over several decades

See colour illustration

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