Art, literature & history
The Mousetrap
c. 1654
- Dating
- Approximate date range
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Engraving and drypoint in black on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- Image/plate: 22.7 × 30.9 cm (8 15/16 × 12 3/16 in.); Sheet: 23.4 × 31.4 cm (9 1/4 × 12 3/8 in.)
- Collection no.
- 2014.642
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Claude Mellan. The Mousetrap, c. 1654. Inventory 2014.642. Claude Mellan; Art Institute of Chicago. Collection credit: The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund. CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). https://www.artic.edu/artworks/222781. Full-frame proportional resize and JPEG compression.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
The Mousetrap — Claude Mellan. c. 1654.
Medium: Engraving and drypoint in black on ivory laid paper. Dimensions: Image/plate: 22.7 × 30.9 cm (8 15/16 × 12 3/16 in.); Sheet: 23.4 × 31.4 cm (9 1/4 × 12 3/8 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Mellan never completed this secular engraving, and he may not have intended to publish or distribute it widely. The work is a surprisingly sensual departure for an artist who engraved hundreds of religious subjects and portraits, but it maintains his sinuous, supple line. The stark nudity of the Venus-like central figure, taken from an unfinished plate with substantial areas of blank space, enhances the print’s abstraction.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.