Street Seller of Pious Prints and Rosaries

Unknown artist

1660

ets

Rijksmuseum

A man stands with a rosary and religious prints, offering them for sale. In the background, a domed building and a tower are visible. This Italian print seller illustrates the ambivalent way women were perceived at the time. With his left hand, he holds up a print of the Virgin Mary, while the print in his right hand features fighting swordsmen, with a Latin text underneath referring to the biblical Eve. She is said to have brought evil into the world by eating an apple, with Adam, from the Tree of Wisdom in Paradise.