Art Institute of Chicago
The Mousetrap
Claude MellanLinkedCulture matchlcp-495e88cd45ed
- Date
- c. 1654
- Medium
- Engraving and drypoint in black on ivory laid paper
- Culture
- France
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 222781
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
Mellan never completed this secular engraving, and he may not have intended to publish or distribute it widely. The work is a surprisingly sensual departure for an artist who engraved hundreds of religious subjects and portraits, but it maintains his sinuous, supple line. The stark nudity of the Venus-like central figure, taken from an unfinished plate with substantial areas of blank space, enhances the print’s abstraction.
The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund
Linked open data
Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.
- Object type
- AAT300041273
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.