Rijksmuseum

De drie gevangenen

Date

c. 1503 - c. 1504

Medium

paper

Culture

Italy

Institution

Rijksmuseum

Venetian Jacopo de’ Barbari worked in Germany, where his great rival was the engraver Albrecht Dürer. He used his characteristic technique of long, parallel lines to superb effect to portray the elegant physique of the young men and the gnarled trees. This puzzling, apparently ancient scene is probably intended to portray man’s vulnerability, confined by the constraints of physical existence and nature.

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