Buste van een oude man met baard 1650 - 1700

This print of an old, bearded man was made by an anonymous engraver, active in the 17th century, known only by the initials IF. It is a fine example of the ways in which the medium of printmaking allowed for the wide circulation of images of different types. Looking at the man’s features, he appears to be based on antique sculpture. The so-called ‘grotesque’ heads of old men were a popular trope in both ancient and Renaissance art. They were sometimes considered to embody wisdom, or at least experience, and could be intended to have a moralizing effect on the viewer. Engravings such as this would often be collected into albums, where they could be studied and appreciated for their technical skill and for the ways in which they engaged with the canon of art history. To understand this print further, we might look at comparable examples from the period, and examine the inventories of collectors to see how they were displayed and understood.