UK

Boy with a Monkey

Gottfried Libalt

  • Boy with a Monkey 2
  • Boy with a Monkey 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-4232
Author
Gottfried Libalt
Name
Boy with a Monkey
Date of creation
17th c.
Country
Germany
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
78 x 58
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
genre art
Provenance
the Rzewuski collection (Pidhirtsi Castle)
Exposition
Potocki Palace
Information about author
Author
Gottfried Libalt
Artist's lifetime
1610–1673
Country
Germany
Biography
Gottfried Liebalt was a German artist. Known mainly for his still lifes, he also painted landscapes and portraits. He worked in Hamburg, Krakow, and Vienna. The artist was famous during his lifetime and later forgotten for several centuries. Today, there are at most 30 paintings by Gottfried Liebalt in the world, one of which is part of the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery collection.
Object description
The painting was attributed to an unknown artist. However, it is now known for sure that Gottfried Libalt executed it. He was a prominent 17th-century German artist who specialised in genre scenes and still lifes. In this work, Gottfried Libalt depicted an elegantly dressed young man with a monkey sitting on his shoulders and rummaging in his hair. This plot was most likely based on 16th-century German engravings, in which the monkey often served as a personification of human stupidity. However, the artist gave this theme a new twist. In this case, the monkey represents ignorance and depravity, the false values and perverted concepts it instils in its young owner's head.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Other