Sleeping Nymph 1612 - 1629

Johann Liss, a Westphalian-German artist, painted this oil on copper panel, Sleeping Nymph, sometime between 1616 and 1631. It depicts a nude nymph asleep in a dark grotto, while two putti look on from the shadows. Classical and mythological themes such as this were very popular in painting during the seventeenth century. The nude female figure, of course, has a long history in Western art, frequently serving as an allegory or an idealized representation of beauty. Liss would have studied such traditions at academic institutions such as the one he attended in Haarlem. However, here, the naturalistic setting seems to offer a comment on these established traditions. What might the artist be saying about the relationship between art and nature, or the gaze of the viewer and the viewed? Scholars have made good use of documents relating to Liss’s life and art historical sources to further understand this artist’s fascinating work.