The melancholy temperament: an anxious woman clasps her hands as an agitated man lies on the ground. Engraving by R. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos.

  • Vos, Maarten de, 1532-1603.
Date:
[between 1600 and 1699]
Reference:
26884i
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view The melancholy temperament: an anxious woman clasps her hands as an agitated man lies on the ground. Engraving by R. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos.

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Credit

The melancholy temperament: an anxious woman clasps her hands as an agitated man lies on the ground. Engraving by R. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Description

The lettering mentions sleep disorders, anxiety, fear and violence. The man appears to be reaching for a beer jug; broken crockery and furniture lie on the ground. In the background, two performers (one holding scales, the other possibly a snake) stand on a podium, apparently quacks in a medicine show. Three astrological symbols form an arc in the sky

Publication/Creation

[Paris] : P. Mariette ex, [between 1600 and 1699]

Physical description

1 print : line engraving ; platemark 18.9 x 24.5 cm

Contributors

Lettering

Melancholicus. Anxius et niger est, timet omnia tristia, dormit, / Et violentus atro manat ab ore furor, / Insomnesque agitat violento examine curas: / Mole sua bilis quem nimis atra premit. M. de Vos inventor. Raphael Sadler scalps. Antuerpiæ. Bears number: 4

References note

Anouk Janssen, Grijsaards in zwart-wit: de verbeelding van de ouderdom in de Nederlandse prentkunst (1550-1650), Zutphen 2007, p. 73, fig. 9
Guy Tal, 'Skepticism and morality in Jacques de Gheyn II's Preparation for the witches' sabbath', Simiolus, 2022, 44: 5-27, p. 10 ("A figure with fingers intertwined became a standard signifier of melancholy")

Reference

Wellcome Collection 26884i

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