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Date : approx. between 1655 and 1660
Material : Oil painting on wood
| Item 5 on 15
European Painting
Painting
Area related
Neitherlands
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| Description |  |
In this painting an astronomer laboring by candle-light measures the distance between two points on a globe of the heavens. The prominent candle and hourglass are traditional symbols of the brevity of life, suggesting that the astronomer symbolizes the vanity of the human desire to comprehend the infinite. Dou was Rembrandt's first student and later the leader of the "fijnschilder" (fine painters), a group of painters in Leyden who used a highly refined and detailed technique.
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