Peter Marks met zijn derde en vierde vrouw
Medium
etching
Dimensions
151; 203
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Links stikt de derde vrouw van Peter Marks in een op perkament geschreven gedicht dat een van haar aanbidders in een stuk taart heeft verstopt. Rechts Peter Marks en zijn vierde vrouw. Uit zuinigheid heeft zij alle kleding van haar man achter slot en grendel opgeborgen. Ze stelt zelfs voor om Peter's versleten broek op te lappen met stof uit een van haar oude onderjurken. Uit boosheid hierover gooit Peter Marks de onderjurk uit het raam waarop zijn vierde vrouw van schrik sterft. Genummerd: III ...
Art Historical Context
Daniel Nikolaus Chodowie, a prolific Prussian artist of the Enlightenment era, captures the absurdities of marital life in his 1779 etching * Marks met zijn derde ende vrouw* (Peter Marks with his Third and Wife). Renowned for his witty genre scenes and moralistic illustrations, Chodowie often satirized 18th-century bourgeois society through everyday vignettes, drawing from popular literature and folklore. This print, numbered III and IV likely belongs to a narrative series lampooning the misfortunes of the hapless Peter Marks, reflecting the era's fascination with cautionary tales about love, jealousy, and thrift. On the left, Peter's third wife chokes dramatically on a parchment poem hidden in a pie by a rival suitor, a comical nod to romantic intrigue gone awry. To the right, his frugal fourth wife locks away his clothes for economy, even proposing to mend his tattered trousers with scraps from her old petticoat. Enraged, Peter hurls the garment out the window, causing her to collapse in shock—a hyperbolic twist on domestic squabbles. Chodowiecki's sharp social commentary highlights gender tensions and miserly habits in pre-Romantic Europe. Etched with fine lines on a modest 151 × 203 mm plate, this intaglio print exemplifies the medium's power for detailed storytelling and wide distribution via affordable reproductions, making elite satire accessible to the public. A delightful glimpse into 18th-century humor!
About the Artist
Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki · 1726–1801
Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726–1801) was a German painter and printmaker of Polish-Huguenot descent who became the most celebrated graphic artist in 18th-century Germany. Born in Danzig (now Gdańsk), he created approximately 2,000 etchings that serve as an invaluable visual record of German bourgeois life during the Enlightenment. Largely self-taught, Chodowiecki moved to Berlin in 1743 and ach...