Allegory of Africa, from "The Four Continents"

An engraved allegorical figure of Africa stands barefoot in a palm-lined landscape, shading herself with a large parasol and raising a hoop-shaped instrument. Fine parallel hatching models her draped garment and the sunlit sky, and the French caption L'Afrique appears below.

Look closer: Faint distant buildings and palms on the horizon behind the figure.

Artist

Abraham Bosse

Date

mid to late 17th century

Medium

Etching

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2575 × 3725 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Estate of James Hazen Hyde, 1959