Arent van Bolten’s Grotesques
Very little is known about the Dutch artist Arent van Bolten. We do know he was born at Zwolle ca. 1573 and was actually a silversmith by profession. His artistic output ranged from grotesque figures and monsters, to figural scenes from the Bible and mythology. Here is a selection of the former, held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and produced sometime in the early 17th century.