Minneapolis Institute of Art

Man is born naked, plate #1 from The Misery of Human Life

Philips Galle; after Maarten van Heemskerck

Date

1563

Medium

Etching with censoring in selective watercolor [?]

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A five-breasted naked woman labeled Natura hands a naked baby to a woman in a long dress with her right breast exposed. Paint has been applied these two figures to cover exposed parts of their bodies. To the right is another woman who carries a swaddled baby. In the background are many animals on land, sea, and air. Especially prominent are to boars, a salamander, a hedgehog, a turtle, a bear, and a chicken. This is the first 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. Some of the verses below may be roughly translated as follows: Birds, fish, trees, and all animals, Are all provided and clothed by Nature. Man alone is left completely naked, and suffers a thousand travails. Flanders, Europe

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