From Print to Painting: Jan Miense Molenaer’s Lute players

Seventeenth-century Dutch genre painter Jan Miense Molenaer (1610/1611–1668) often depicted the sitting male, elegant, full-size lute player for about a decade. He changed the figure little except for costumes, props, and environment from one painting to the next. This author suggests that Molenaer employed a print model, turning it into repeatable patterns in order to copy it with little adjustments from painting to painting. The practice was first used by artists in the South Netherlands. A prolific painter, Molenaer was able to use his creative process for profitable marketing purposes.