Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - Design for a Title Page

Preview image of work. pen and brown ink and black chalk heightened with white on two sheets paper , Design for a Title Page 135

1811.135

Recommend keywords

Help us make our collections more accessible by providing keywords to describe this artwork. The BCMA uses the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus to provide consistent keywords. Enter a keyword in the field below and you will be prompted with a list of possible matching AAT preferred terms.

Design for a Title Page

Export record as: Plain text | JSON | CDWA-Lite | VRA Core 4

Artist

Abraham Jansz. van Diepenbeeck (s Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, 1596 - 1675, Antwerp, Belgium)

Title

Design for a Title Page

Creation Date

1640-1675

Century

16th-17th century

Dimensions

13 1/2 in. x 8 13/16 in. (34.3 cm. x 22.4 cm.)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

Europe, Flanders, Flanders

Medium and Support

pen and brown ink and black chalk heightened with white on two sheets paper

Credit Line

Bequest of the Honorable James Bowdoin III

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1811.135

Diepenbeeck designed this title page for a compendium of laws and regulations of the County of Flanders, compiled by Laurens van den Hane and titled “Costumen van het Graefschap van Vlaenderen.” It was published in Antwerp and Ghent in 1674 with the title page engraved by Cornelis van Caukercken (1626--1680). With more than fifty title pages and book illustrations to his name, van Diepenbeeck catered to the needs of the thriving Antwerp publishing industry. Peter Paul Rubens (1577--1640) had set the example with elaborate title page designs that provided a visual synopsis of the book. Here, Flanders appears personified in the central figure, aided by Common Law on the left and Justice on the right. A putto working on a grindstone is explained with the banderole, “Dark and murky becomes light and clear.”

Keywords: design interior architecture angels allegory work on paper master drawing figures (representations)