Eleven boys and three goats
Medium
Etching; not by Hollar
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 13/16 × 8 1/4 in. (14.7 × 21 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.1401
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming etching, created between 1646 and 1654, captures a lively scene of eleven boys playing with three goats, complete with the energetic presence of drums. Attributed to the Flemish artist Pieter van Avont and rendered in the etching medium, the small print (just under six by eight inches) reflects the 17th-century taste for genre scenes that celebrated childhood innocence and rural life. Van Avont, known for his detailed depictions of children and animals in pastoral settings, often infused such works with a sense of joyful movement and natural harmony. Although the print is explic...
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar|Pieter van Avont|Pieter van Avont · 1607–1677
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...