CUYLENBORCH, Abraham van
(b. ca. 1610, Utrecht, d. 1658, Utrecht)

Bacchus and Nymphs in Landscape

c. 1645
Oil on panel. 58 x 72 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This lighthearted mythological picture is a typical work by Abraham van Cuylenborch, but formerly it was attributed to Cornelis van Poelenburgh. The graceful woman seated on a rock occurs variously in the artist's work. She comes close to one of Raphael's Three Graces in the Sala di Psiche of the Villa Farnesina, Rome, which was widely known through engravings. However, there are many similar figures in Dutch art, as seen in the work of Joachim Wtewael, Cornelis van Haarlem, Cornelis van Poelenburgh, and others.