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Lot Essay
One of fifteen known studies of écorché nudes drawn by Rubens as part of a notebook of anatomical studies. Eleven of these were purchased in the mid-18th Century by Sir Roger Newdigate, Bt., reidentified and sold at Christie's London, 6-7 July 1987, lots 57-67. Others are in the Albertina in Vienna (M. Jaffé, Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook, London, 1966, pp. 100-2, pl. XLIV), at Chatsworth (J.M. Muller, op. cit., p. 85, fig. 18), and formerly in the collection of the late Dr. Ludwig Burchard, sold Christie's London, 6 July 1999, lot 223.
The late Professor Jaffé noted that this group, all on sheets of approximately the same size, appears to have come from a single sketchbook of unknown purpose, Jaffé, op. cit., 1987, p. 61. Most likely is the suggestion that they were drawn in preparation for an unrealized series of prints, although there is no direct evidence that Rubens was planning such a project. The group was engraved by Paulus Pontius, and published after the master's death in 1640 by Alexander Voet with the legend 'PETRVS PAVLVS RVBBENS DELINEAVIT'. Although the frequent use of carefully delineated cross-hatching seems to indicate that the drawings were prepared for ease of transfer to the engraver's plate, the technique is common to a number of early works by Rubens unrelated to prints, J.M. Muller, op. cit., p. 92, note 9.
The drawings could simply have been intended to provide Rubens with an album of figures with which to fill his larger compositions, in which he pays particular attention to the underlying musculature to create a naturalistic effect. The importance for artists of the study of anatomy was preached by the theorist Leon Battista Alberti in the 15th Century, and was most notably reflected in the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Although Rubens does not seem to have been interested in deeper dissections than the flayed figure, we know that he was profoundly impressed by Leonardo's anatomical drawings, which he saw in the collection of Pompeo Leoni during his visit to Spain in 1603, J.M. Muller, op. cit., p. 82. A number of the drawings in the group show that the master was also looking at Michelangelo's powerful writhing figures in the Sistine Chapel Last Judgment, which led Jaffé to date the drawings to 1605-10, at the period of the artist's stay in Rome and in the first years of his return to Antwerp.
Before the reappearance of the Newdigate drawings in 1987, the existence of a larger group related to the present sheet was known through a series of copies by Rubens' assistant Willem Panneels, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, J. Garff and E. de la Fuente Pedersen, Rubens Cantoor, The Drawings of Willem Panneels, Copenhagen, 1988. Several of these drawings bear Panneels' coded inscriptions 'oockalvant cantoorvanrubbens' (also from Rubens' cantoor), referring to an office or locked chest in which Rubens would have stored his 'library' of drawings. The copies were probably made in 1628-30 when Panneels was left in charge of the master's affairs during his absence from Antwerp on trips to Spain and England.
The late Professor Jaffé noted that this group, all on sheets of approximately the same size, appears to have come from a single sketchbook of unknown purpose, Jaffé, op. cit., 1987, p. 61. Most likely is the suggestion that they were drawn in preparation for an unrealized series of prints, although there is no direct evidence that Rubens was planning such a project. The group was engraved by Paulus Pontius, and published after the master's death in 1640 by Alexander Voet with the legend 'PETRVS PAVLVS RVBBENS DELINEAVIT'. Although the frequent use of carefully delineated cross-hatching seems to indicate that the drawings were prepared for ease of transfer to the engraver's plate, the technique is common to a number of early works by Rubens unrelated to prints, J.M. Muller, op. cit., p. 92, note 9.
The drawings could simply have been intended to provide Rubens with an album of figures with which to fill his larger compositions, in which he pays particular attention to the underlying musculature to create a naturalistic effect. The importance for artists of the study of anatomy was preached by the theorist Leon Battista Alberti in the 15th Century, and was most notably reflected in the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Although Rubens does not seem to have been interested in deeper dissections than the flayed figure, we know that he was profoundly impressed by Leonardo's anatomical drawings, which he saw in the collection of Pompeo Leoni during his visit to Spain in 1603, J.M. Muller, op. cit., p. 82. A number of the drawings in the group show that the master was also looking at Michelangelo's powerful writhing figures in the Sistine Chapel Last Judgment, which led Jaffé to date the drawings to 1605-10, at the period of the artist's stay in Rome and in the first years of his return to Antwerp.
Before the reappearance of the Newdigate drawings in 1987, the existence of a larger group related to the present sheet was known through a series of copies by Rubens' assistant Willem Panneels, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, J. Garff and E. de la Fuente Pedersen, Rubens Cantoor, The Drawings of Willem Panneels, Copenhagen, 1988. Several of these drawings bear Panneels' coded inscriptions 'oockalvant cantoorvanrubbens' (also from Rubens' cantoor), referring to an office or locked chest in which Rubens would have stored his 'library' of drawings. The copies were probably made in 1628-30 when Panneels was left in charge of the master's affairs during his absence from Antwerp on trips to Spain and England.