Drie jongetjes rond een vuurtje 1618 - 1655

This is an etching by Cornelis Schut, titled "Three Boys around a Fire," made in the Netherlands, sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The Netherlands was a world leader in printmaking, and etchings like this one were collected in albums by the wealthy. In this image, three putti, or child-angels, are gathered around a fire. One carries kindling, another stokes the flames, and the third seems to be shielding himself from the heat, set against an idealized classical building. Such imagery was popular in the Netherlands and it can be found across painting, prints, and sculpture. As historians, we seek to understand the meaning behind the widespread use of this image. Were such images simply decorative? Or did they carry a deeper meaning? The presence of the classical building suggests that the artist had an interest in the art and architecture of antiquity. To fully understand the image, one needs to investigate the full range of meanings that childhood, fire, and classical architecture might have had at the time.