Seated Oriental Woman
by VERMEYEN, Jan Cornelisz., Etching, 247 x 171 mm
Jan Vermeyen was a well-travelled man for his day. Around 1534 he went to Spain, and from there he joined up with Emperor Charles V’s army a year later as it sailed for North Africa and the Tunis campaign. There he made the drawings on which he based his cartoons for a series of monumental tapestries depicting the feats of arms in Tunis that were woven for Mary of Hungary in 1546-47.
Vermeyen’s travels had an impact on his art, as can be seen from this etchings such as the Seated Oriental Woman.