related in execution as well as style and with several o
the same individual figures, is still in the Devonshire col
lection, Chatsworth (inv. 1007; Jarre 1977, pi. 194). It i
extremely difficult to ascertain the relative chronology o
the two, but as Held has suggested (1959, p. 96; 1986, p
73), the Museum's drawing is the more developed i
terms of specific figures, as can be seen in the young ma
with his back turned in the group at the left. It is als
worth noting that this drawing begins to suggest a com
positional arrangement, a feature almost entirely unex
plored in the Chatsworth study.
The overall inspiration and individual apostles in th
Museum's drawing have often been related to Italia
models. Rooses was the first to suggest the generic influ
ence of Leonardo's famous precedent (1900, p. 202).
Held has noted the derivation of the young man with hi
back turned at the left from a figure in Caravaggio's Call
ing of Saint Matthew in San Luigi dei Francesi, Rom
(1951, p. 288). Held also has proposed that the youn
apostle with his hands in front of his chest who appear
twice in the drawing (in the upper and lower groups a
the right side) is based on Marcantonio Raimondi's en
graving of the same subject after Raphael's design, whil
the man at the upper right was derived from Michelan
gelo's Ezechias spandrel in the Sistine Chapel. Lastly,
Held has pointed to the Caravaggesque inclusion of spec
tacles on the apostle at the far left (1959, p. 96; 1986, p.
73). In addition, Burchard and d'Hulst have suggested
that the apostle seated on the folding chair at the right i
based upon a figure in Raphael's fresco in the Vatica
Loggie (1963, p. 62). Finally, the apostle at the center
with his hands raised appears to be derived from Cara
vaggio's Supper at Emmaus (London, National Gallery).
With the exception of Burchard and d'Hulst (1963,
p. 62), most scholars have dated the Museum's drawing
to Rubens' early Italian years. For example, Held has
placed it circa 1600-1604 (1959, p. 96; 1986 , p. 73). How
ever, Monballieu (1965, pp. 195-205) has published doc
uments showing that Rubens was commissioned to paint
an altarpiece of the Last Supper for the Benedictine abbey
of Saint Winoksbergen in 1611, a project for which h
seems to have made designs before he decided against
completing it. Monballieu reasonably has proposed that
this and the Chatsworth study were both made in con
nection with the Saint Winoksbergen painting, a view
shared by A.-M. Logan.^1
The verso of the Museum's sheet contains several
studies of Medea with her slain children, a theme that
f - s f. n n o - - e n - s - e g s t - e - - s n - - - e -seems to have interested Rubens alone among the artists
of his time. Another drawing by him copied after an an-
tique sarcophagus still in Mantua shows the more typical
scene of Medea's flight, in which she mounts a chariot
rawn by serpents (Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van
euningen, inv. Rubens 8; Burchard and d'Hulst 1963,
i. 14). Held has made the interesting suggestion that Ru-
ens' involvement with this subject may have arisen out
f his friendship with the humanist scholar Justus Lipsius
1959 , p. 96; 1986, p. 73). Held also has noted the resem-
lance of Medea's movement to that of a classical
aenad, as well as Rubens' derivation of the child hang-
ng by one arm from a representation of one of the chil-
ren of Niobe on an antique sarcophagus he could have
een in the Villa Borghese in Rome. Despite the use of
hese sources, Rubens' studies of Medea and her children
re among the most original and freely conceived of his
mages, entirely appropriate for what may have been the
irst postclassical depiction of the theme.^2
Stylistically, both recto and verso show a preference
or drawing in rather long, thin lines, sometimes thick-
ned for emphasis and shading. The figures range from
he monumentally conceived apostles on the recto to the
ore finely drawn, animated renderings of Medea on
he verso. Though both have points in common with
rawings Rubens made in Italy, a date just after his return
o Antwerp is supported not only by the documents dis-
overed by Monballieu (1965, pp. 195-205) but also by
he graphic character of the Museum's sheet. It is more
eveloped and sensitive than his Italian studies and com-
ares more closely with other drawings made in his first
ew years back in Antwerp (Held 1959, pis. 30-31, 33,
1-42; 1986, pis. 72, 77, in, 124, 135).. Conversation with the author, Malibu, 1985.
. Professor Held, in conversation with the author, Malibu,
985, mentioned that L. Steinberg had indicated that this was
he first postclassical depiction of this subject.
d B p b o ( b m i d s t a i f f e t m t d t c t d p f 4 1 2 1 t204 FLEMISH SCHOOL - RUBENS