''Two Boys Blowing Bubbles'' is a painting by the seventeenth-century Walloon artist

Michaelina Wautier Michaelina Wautier, also Woutiers (1604–1689), was a painter from the Southern Netherlands. Only since the turn of the 21st century has her work been recognized as that of an outstanding female Baroque artist, her works having been previously a ...

. It has been suggested that the painting is a double portrait, given the specific facial expressions and costumes of the two boys depicted are so distinctive. Besides the two boys, the painting depicts a candle and a sandtimer. As with the bubble, both are symbolic of the passing of time, and were familiar motifs in seventeenth-century painting. The painting was previously attributed to Jacob van Oost. However, research done in 2007 led to the re-attribution to Wautier. The painting hangs in the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

who purchased it in 1958. A second version by Wautier is in a private collection in Spain. A third painting, executed in the eighteenth century and copying just the boy on the right, is in the Collection des Musee d'Amiens, France.

References

{{17C-painting-stub Paintings by Michaelina Wautier 1640s paintings Collection of the Seattle Art Museum

See also

References