The Spectacle Seller
Adriaen Jansz van Ostade
Description
Ostade's etching shows a door-to-door salesman offering a pair of spectacles to a woman leaning out a half-open door. The peddler seen in this print seems benevolent and the woman appears eager to examine his wares. However, specatacles themselves had alternately good and bad associations, linked on the one hand with clarity of perception and wisdom, and on the other hand with deception.
Usage Rights:
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.