Prints, Drawings, and Photographs A Hermit Kneeling in Prayer by His Delapidated Hut After 1635 Frederick Bloemaert, Dutch, c. 1616 - 1690. After Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch, 1566 - 1651. Engraving Currently not on view 1985-52-30921 |
The Muriel and Philip Berman Gift, acquired from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with funds contributed by Muriel and Philip Berman, gifts (by exchange) of Lisa Norris Elkins, Bryant W. Langston, Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, with additional funds contributed by John Howard McFadden, Jr., Thomas Skelton Harrison, and the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, 1985LabelIn certain prints, a lone monumental tree becomes the subject of the work, assuming the role traditionally assigned to the human figure. Here, even the actions of the praying hermit are secondary to the dominant tree with twisting branches and gnarled roots. Such trees are emblematic of the ravage of time, as are the crumbling brick wall from which the roots protrude and the dilapidated shelter of the hermit, just visible in the background. |
