
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Man has to learn everything, plate #2 from The Misery of Human Life
Philips Galle; after Maarten van HeemskerckLinkedCulture matchlcp-25012230600d
- Date
- 1563
- Medium
- Etching
- Department
- European Art
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Object ID
- 140095
From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record
In the foreground, a woman spoonfeeds an infant, and another woman teaches a child to walk. Note that someone has tried to censor its bare bottom with a smudge of paint.Another child toddles along in a walking frame, while two others follow along whining. The backgound is filled with animals. This is the second print in a series of six that studies the misery of human life. The images were designed by Maarten van Heemskerck and engraved by Philips Galle. Each is accompanied by Latin verses by the learned Dutch polymath Hadrianus Junius (1511-1575), with further verses in French and Dutch below. Here the message is that animals naturally walk; fish swim--without drowning; and, birds fly with the aid of their wings. But we humans are unable to walk and have to rely on others for food. We come into the world with nothing in our memories except for the ability to cry. Flanders, Europe
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of James A. Bergquist, Boston, in honor of Rachel McGarry
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