The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Balaam and the Ass
1583
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
This work is mounted on panel, suggesting that it was once inlaid into a piece of furniture or wainscotting in a wealthy 16th-century home.Description
While this small miniature, made with watercolor on parchment, depicts a scene from the Old Testament in the left foreground, its primary subject is the expansive rural scene, landscape, and distant hillside city beyond. Hans Bol combined realistic city views, based on his onsite observation, with imaginary scenes and narratives, appealing to his late-16th-century urban Netherlandish audience. The story of the Balaam and the Ass was associated with greed in the period. The miniature was likely paired with other scenes highlighting contemporary moral issues to be displayed together in a domestic setting.- Private Collection, Belgium?-2022(Sotheby's, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of ArtMarch 7, 2022-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Hulst, Roger Adolf d'. Dessins du XVe au XVIIIe siècle: dans les collections privées de Belgique. Bruxelles: Société générale de banque, 1983. p. 46-47, no. 17Peters, Emily J., Laura Ritter, William Griswold, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, and Koenraad Jonckheere. Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. Cleveland, OH : Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 92-93, no.10Sotheby's (Firm). Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries. 2022. Lot 2
- Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 9, 2022-January 8, 2023).
- {{cite web|title=Balaam and the Ass|url=false|author=Hans Bol|year=1583|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.3