Johann Theodor de Bry (German, 1561-1623)
after Marten de Vos (Flemish, 1532-1603)
Bath of Sardanapalus
INV-4352
Johann Theodor de Bry (German, 1561-1623)
after Marten de Vos (Flemish, 1532-1603)n.d.
Bath of Sardanapalus
Johann Theodor de Bry (German, 1561-1623) after Marten de Vos (Flemish, 1532-1603) →engravingprint
Date
n.d.
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate/trimmed to sheet: 15.9 × 15.6 cm (6 5/16 × 6 3/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
The Charles Deering Collection
Sardanapalus was a mythical ancient Assyrian king known for his excessive pursuit of physical pleasure. He appears here being bathed by a bevy of women, though he was said to have many concubines of both genders. Johann Theodor de Bry copied and reshaped another artist’s rectangular print of a moralizing subject to create this composition, surrounding it with a sumptuously detailed border of foodstuffs, animals, and grotesque hybrid creatures.