Jean de Gourmont
French, 1506-1551
Nude Child Seated
INV-4429
Jean de Gourmont
French, 1506-15511520/30
Nude Child Seated
Jean de Gourmont French, 1506-1551 →engravingprint
Date
1520/30
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 7.8 × 7.8 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Bequest of Mrs. Potter Palmer, Jr.
Here Gourmont placed a nude child in front of his characteristic perspectival architecture, leaving only a few clues about his identity. The composition resembles both contemporary images of the Christ Child as well as the John the Baptist roundel on view nearby (1938.1502). Yet the oil lamp behind the figure and the statue in ancient garb emphasize the broken bricks and weeds growing throughout this collapsed structure. These details suggest that the roundel is a meditation on the ruins of Antiquity rather than the advent of Christianity.
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