Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Allegory of Prudence

Artist: Unknown Artist (French or Italian, -)

Medium: red chalk on paper

Dimensions: 9 in. x 5 3/16 in. (22.8 cm. x 13.2 cm.)

Credit Line: Bequest of the Honorable James Bowdoin III

Accession Number: 1811.74

• "4.p"
  Type: inscription
  Location: verso
  Materials: pen and brown ink

• James Bowdoin III( Collector, Boston) - 1811.
• Bowdoin College Museum of Art( Museum, Brunswick, Maine) 1811- . Bequest

• Old Master Drawings at Bowdoin College
  • Bowdoin College Museum of Art. ( 5/17/1985 - 7/7/1985)
  • Clark Art Institute. ( 9/14/1985 - 10/27/1985)
  • University of Kansas. ( 1/19/1986 - 3/2/1986)
  • Art Gallery of Ontario. ( 5/17/1986 - 6/29/1986)

See comments for BCMA 1811.59, with which this forms a pair. Traditionally identified as Truth, the subject is confirmed as Prudence by the serpent and mirror together as attributes.

Commentary credited to David P. Becker (or not otherwise captioned) appeared in his catalogue Old Master Drawings at Bowdoin College (Brunswick: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 1985).