Jan Pietersz. Saenredam
Allegory of Sight and the Art of Painting

CultureDutch
Titles
  • Allegory of Sight and the Art of Painting
Date1616
MediumEngraving
DimensionsPlate: 9 5/8 × 7 1/4 in. (24.4 × 18.4 cm)
Sheet: 9 3/4 × 7 3/8 in. (24.8 × 18.7 cm)
At opening: 13 3/4 × 11 1/4 in. (34.9 × 28.6 cm)
Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Frame (inner): 20 1/16 × 16 1/16 in. (51 × 40.8 cm)
Frame (outer): 22 7/16 × 18 7/16 × 1 1/8 in. (57 × 46.8 × 2.9 cm)
Credit LineSarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston
Object numberBF.1997.6
Not on view

Explore Further

Object Type
Provenance[R. M. Light & Co., Santa Barbara, California]; purchased by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 1997.

Exhibition History"Picturing the Senses in European Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 10–July 17, 2011.

"Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe," Harvard Art Museum/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 6–December 11, 2011; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, January 17–April 8, 2012.

"Hidden Layers: Painting and Process in Europe, 1500–1800," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 26–September 3, 2018.

"The Art and Science of Optics," The Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Claremont, California, November 12, 2022–March 26, 2023.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscriptions: lower left: HG. Inuent. I. Saenr. scu. / R. de baudous excudit. 1616; below image: Haec memini nocuiße atque oblectaße videntes.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Allegory of the Triumph of the Netherlands over Spain
Jan Pietersz. Saenredam
1600
Engraving
BF.1997.26
Vertumnus and Pomona in a Garden
Jan Pietersz. Saenredam
1605
Engraving on laid paper, state I/IV
74.55
Fool Holding a Staff
Jan Pietersz. Saenredam
c. 1595
Engraving on laid paper, state I/III
2011.1014
Allegory of Painting
Theodor Matham
c. 1655–1658
Etching and engraving
BF.1997.11
Allegory with Cupid and Putti
Giovanni Andrea Podestà
1640
Etching and engraving
BF.1997.28
Allegory of the Royal Academy of Arts
William Wynne Ryland
1779
Stipple engraving in colors
BF.1997.20
Saint Luke Painting the Virgin
Jacob Matham
c. 1613
Engraving
BF.1997.37
Allegory of War
Hendrick Goltzius
1578
Engraving
BF.1997.33
The Landscape Painter
Johann Georg Hertel the Elder
c. 1760
Engraving and etching
BF.1997.15
L'Enseigne de Gersaint
Pierre-Alexandre Aveline
c. 1732
Etching and engraving
BF.1997.14
Archetypa studiaque patris Georgii Hoefnagelii, Title page
Jacob Hoefnagel
1592
Engraving on paper
BF.2008.10
Allegory of the Misuse of Worldly Property
Willem van Swanenburg
1609
Engraving
BF.1999.28.4