Willem Pietersz. Buytewech (Rotterdam 1591-1624)

A study for an etching which is one of a series of eight peasant girls representing different towns and regions of the Netherlands. Etched by Gillis van Scheyndel (fl. 1622-1638) and published by Johannes Pietersz. Beerendrecht (circa 1590-1645), the series does not bear a date. However, it must have been published around 1621, which is the date of another series of etchings which are stylistically very close and also after designs by Buytewech (Haverkamp Begemann, op. cit., nos. 161-164). Other preparatory drawings for the series are in the Morgan Library, New York, showing a girl from the Zijpe, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, representing Edam and the Rhineland, and in the Albertina, Vienna, showing a fisherwoman from the North Sea coast (Rotterdam, 1974-5, nos. 86, 88-90).

In accordance with the fondness of Dutch poets of the period for classicising influences, Latin inscriptions were added to the etchings. Four of the eight young women, including the girl in the present drawing, have been given the names of classical nymphs or deities: the present composition was published with the legend: 'Alcmaniana leves adamat Galatea choreas/ Flava Comas, nodoque sinu Collecta fluentes' ('Golden-haired Galatea from Alkmaar, her skirts hitched up, adores dancing').