Head of an Old Woman (so-called portrait of Visscher's mother) (c. 1649-58): Artwork and History

Head of an Old Woman (so-called portrait of Visscher's mother) (c. 1649-58) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Cornelis Visscher Dutch, c. 1629-1658.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Cornelis Visscher was an etcher, draughtsman, and publisher in Haarlem, where he joined the Guild of St. Luke in 1653. This plate was largely etched by Johannes Visscher, Cornelis's brother, with engraving done by Cornelis.

Object facts

• Title: Head of an Old Woman (so-called portrait of Visscher's mother)
• Date: c. 1649-58
• Artist attribution: Cornelis Visscher Dutch, c. 1629-1658
• Place of origin: Holland
• Medium: Etching and engraving on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet; trimmed: 14.1 × 8.7 cm (5 9/16 × 3 7/16 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1923.997

Collection credit

Gift of Horace S. Oakley

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.