The Story
Various Lions, 1655–90. Abraham Blooteling (Dutch, 1640–1690), after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). Etching; sheet: 14.6 x 19.6 cm (5 3/4 x 7 11/16 in.); platemark: 14 x 18 cm (5 1/2 x 7 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Louise S. Richards, 2005.266
Created in 1655 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the daily life tradition. Abraham Blooteling worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in etching, measuring Sheet: 14.6 x 19.6 cm (5 3/4 x 7 11/16 in.); Platemark: 14 x 18 cm (5 1/2 x 7 1/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Abraham Blooteling builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
