Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–8 public

Two Studies of a Roma Woman and a Roma Boy in a Large Hat

A work made of pen and black iron gall ink on tan laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of pen and black iron gall ink on tan laid paper.

Date:

c. 1605

Artist:

Jacques de Gheyn II
Dutch, 1565-1629

About this artwork

Jacques De Gheyn II employed a stylized graphic language of hatching and cross-hatching to capture the individual features and garments of the figures represented here, which include a woman shown from two vantage points and a young boy. The artist used iron gall ink made from the protective growth an oak tree produces after a wasp lays its eggs inside the tree branch. The ink is deep brown and almost black in some areas. Because iron gall ink contains a high concentration of tannic acid, however, it dissolves paper over time. Above the right foot of the Roma woman the damaged paper was repaired.

On several occasions De Gheyn represented figures from the Roma or Romani community, itinerant members of Dutch society whose origins can be traced to northern India. Often finding shelter at the outskirts of cities, the Roma frequently took up informal trades like peddling and fortune telling.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Jacob de Gheyn, II

Title

Two Studies of a Roma Woman and a Roma Boy in a Large Hat

Place

Netherlands (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1600–1610

Medium

Pen and black iron gall ink on tan laid paper

Inscriptions

Inscribed verso, upper left, in graphite: "6" (on its side); center, in graphite: "Middleton"; lower left, in pen and brown ink: "R/PB" (in a triangle (twice)); small circle with two diagonal lines extending below; lower center, in graphite: "Jacob de Gheyn / J d G"; lower center, in pen and brown ink: "Van der Veen"

Dimensions

23 × 26 cm (9 1/16 × 10 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Tiffany and Margaret Blake

Reference Number

1959.2

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/9505/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share