Public Domain Mark
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Credit
A child blowing bubbles. Engraving by J.G. Wille, 1761, after G. Netscher, 1670 (?). Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
The print shows a painting belonging to Chevalier Jean-Louis-Antoine le Vaillant de Damery (1723-1803), Knight of the Order of Saint-Louis. In 1757 de Damery decided to make his collections known to a larger public and began to commission engravings after his paintings by different artists; this enterprise was called the "Cabinet gravé" and resulted in more than 100 engravings, including at least two by Wille (Dr. Claudia Nordhoff, 2011, on website of Crispian Riley-Smith, 2014)
The subject plays with bubbles; two rest in a shell. A white rose (?) lies next to his elbows. The painting is in the National Gallery, London, and is currently (1996) described as 'Two boys blowing bubbles': a putto is seen behind the boy shown alone here. It was intended as an allegory on the transience of human life ('homo bulla': man is a bubble) The legend on this print appears to have been added by the printmaker to attract contemporary audiences - a joke about the child's experimenting with bubbles ('the little physicist')
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