Magdalena Moons, from the series Quatuor Personae...

Art Historical Context

This 1649 engraving and etching, created through the collaboration of Flemish artist Pieter Soutman and Dutch printmaker Cornelis Visscher, portrays Magdalena Moons as part of the “Quatuor Personae” series. Produced during the Dutch Golden Age, the work exemplifies the era’s flourishing print culture, when such techniques allowed portraits of notable figures to reach wide audiences beyond the elite circles that commissioned paintings. The combination of engraving’s precise lines with etching’s tonal subtlety creates a richly detailed image well suited to capturing the textures of fabric and the nuances of expression. Soutman, who had ties to Peter Paul Rubens’s workshop, brought a dynamic compositional sensibility, while Visscher’s renowned skill in reproductive printmaking lent the portrait its crisp clarity and depth. Measuring roughly 16 by 12 inches, the sheet was designed for display or inclusion in print albums, underscoring the period’s growing appreciation for graphic art as both documentary record and aesthetic object. Today in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, the print stands as a testament to 17th-century cross-regional artistic exchange and the enduring power of portraiture to preserve individual presence across time.

About the Artist

Pieter Soutman|Cornelis Visscher (Dutch|Dutch) · 1580 |1628 –1657 |1658

Dutch, Haarlem, ca. 1580–1657 Haarlem|Dutch, Haarlem (?) 1628/29–1658 Amsterdam