Art Institute of Chicago

The Garden of Love, Left Half, with Seated Woman

Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596-1652/53)

Date

c. 1631

Medium

Woodcut on ivory laid paper

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Christoffel Jegher produced several large-scale woodcuts in collaboration with the Flemish painter and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens, of which this two-sheet print is the largest. The panoramic garden setting includes delights such as a group of musical enthusiasts perched on plush chairs and colonnaded ledges on the left; on the right is a fountain grotto with decorative streams of water into which the most boisterous men try to cajole their lovers. The unsure woman on the far right, her waist firmly grasped by a smooth-talking admirer, resists the necessary push into temptation from a determined, winged Eros.

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