JAN HARMENSZ. MULLER
1571-1628
loi Embracing Couple (Mercury
and Lara?)
Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, and white
gouache heightening; H: 18.7 cm (7^3 /sin.); W: 21.7 cm
(8^9 /i6 in.)
86.GG.59 5
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom, inscribed 145
in light brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Antonio Morassi, Milan; private collec-
tion (sale, Christie's, Amsterdam, November 18, 1985,
lot 10); art market, London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. K.J. Reznicek, "Jan Harmensz.
Midler as Draughtsman: Addenda," Master Drawings 18,
no. 2 (Summer 1980), pp. 120-21, 131, no. 12.THIS DRAWING WAS PROBABLY MADE AROUND THE
time of the Baptism of Christ, dated 1590 (Staatliche Gra-
phische Sammlung inv. 1013), and Mars and Venus Pun-
ished by Jupiter (Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett inv.
c 888), both of which similarly exhibit thick, luminous
applications of white heightening and flowing pen work.
Reznicek noted in particular the influence of Cornelis
van Haarlem, after whose drawings Muller made en-
gravings (1980, p. 121). The Museum s sheet is especially
close stylistically and compositionally to Cornelis's
drawing Lot and His Daughters (Staatliche Graphische
Sammlung inv. 1037), which was in fact formerly attrib-
uted to Muller.^1 Both the Getty and Munich drawings
took inspiration from Bartholomeus Spranger, as is in-
dicated by a comparison with Muller's print Lot and His
Daughters after Spranger (B.64[284Jv.4,3). The muscular
female nude in Muller's drawing, and the corpulent male
with an outstretched leg whom she embraces, echo the
figures of Lot and his daughter in the print.
Due to the presence of the helmet in the right cor-
ner, Reznicek tentatively identified the subject of the
drawing as Mars and Venus (1980, p. 131). The various
particulars of the scene, however, conform to the story
of Mercury and the nymph Lara (Ovid, Fasti 2:599),
which Muller engraved (B.io[268]v.4,3). Although the
inventor is not identified on the print, one assumes it was
Muller himself. The pose of Lara in the print is derived
from that of the male figure in the drawing. This, along
with the drawing's dependence on Spranger and Cor-
nelis, lead one to assume that the drawing preceded the
engraving, perhaps serving as a first idea for it.i. For a summary of past literature, see H. Bevers, Niederlàn-
dische Zeichnungen des. 16. Jahrhunderts in der Staatlichen Gra-
phischen Sammlung Munchen, exh. cat. (Staatliche Graphische
Sammlung, Munich, 1990), no. 19.236 DUTCH SCHOOL • MULLER