94 Studies of Women
Black, red, and white chalk, lower right corner replaced;
H: 44.9 cm (i7ri/i6 in.); W: 28.9 cm (n^3 /s in.)
82.GB.I4O
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom, right of center,
collection mark of Prosper Henry Lankrink (L. 2090).
PROVENANCE: Prosper Henry Lankrink, London; Dr.
Nicholas Beets, Amsterdam; A. S. Drey, Munich; Dr.
Gollnow, Stettin; Dr. Anton Schrafl, Zurich (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, December 9, 1982, lot 78).
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: T.W. Muchall-Viebrook, Flemish Draw-
ings of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1926), pp. 27—
28, no. 4; G. GliickandF. M. Haberditzl, Die Handzeich-
nungen von Peter Paul Rubens (Berlin, 1928), p. 28, no. 3;
M. Jaffe, "Rubens' Drawings at Antwerp," Burlington
Magazine 98, no. 642 (September 1956), p. 317; H. Voss,
"Eine unbekannte Rubens-Zeichnung nach Tizian," in
P. de Keyser, ed., Miscellanea Prof. Dr. D. Roggen (Ant-
werp, 1957), pp. 279-280; J. S. Held, Rubens: Selected
Drawings (London, 1959), vol. i, p. 123, under no. 64;
L. Burchard and R.-A. d'Hulst, Rubens Drawings (Brus-
sels, 1963), pp. 244-245, no. 158; M. Jarfe, "Rubens as a
Draughtsman," Burlington Magazine 107, no. 748 (July
1965), p. 381 , no. 159; D. Rosand, "Rubens Drawings,"
Art Bulletin 48, no. 2 (June 1966), p. 245; M. Jaffe, "Fig-
ure Drawings Attributed to Rubens, Jordaens, and Cos-
siers in the Hamburger Kunsthalle," Jahrbuch der Ham-
burger Kunstsammlungen 16 (1971), p. 43; idem, Rubens and
Italy (Oxford, 1977), p. 33, pi. 16; H. Vlieghe, "Review
of M. Jaffe, Rubens and Italy," Burlington Magazine 120,
no. 904 (July 1978), p. 473; K. L. Belkin, The Costume
Book, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, vol. 24
(Brussels, 1980), p. 51, n. 62; J. S. Held, The Oil Sketches
of Pieter Paul Rubens (Princeton, 1980), vol. i, p. 324;
M. C. Volk, "Rubens in Madrid and the Decoration of
the King's Summer Apartments," Burlington Magazine
123 , no. 942 (September 1981), p. 520; J. S. Held, "Ru-
bens and Titian," in D. Rosand, ed., Titian: His World and
his Legacy (New York, 1982), p. 306; M. C. Volk, "On
Rubens and Titian," Ringling Museum of Art Journal
(1983), pp. 143, 152; J. S. Held, Rubens: Selected Drawings
(Mt. Kisco, 1986), pp. 56; 137 , no. 175; pi. 5.
THE VENETIAN INSPIRATION FOR THIS SHEET OF
studies was already recognized by Muchall-Viebrook
(1926), but the specific relationship to Titian was first
mentioned by Gliick and Haberditzl (1928, p. 28).^1 The
latter pointed out that the head at the bottom center of
the sheet was copied from Titian's Venus and Adonis (1554;
Madrid, Prado); the head, arm, and half-length nude in
the center from his Diana and Actaeon (1559); and the re-
maining heads from the Diana and Callisto (1559; both
Collection of the Duke of Sutherland, on loan to the Na-
tional Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh). Gliick and Ha-
berditzl regarded the drawing as dating from Rubens'
early visit to Spain (1603-1604), but all scholars since
Jaffe (1956, p. 317) have situated it correctly during his
visit to Madrid in 1628 -1629. The two Sutherland paint-
ings were hanging together in the first room of the royal
palace when Cassiano del Pozzo visited that city in 1626,
and the Venus and Adonis was two rooms away (Volk
1981 , pp. 519-520). It is therefore entirely understand-
able that motifs taken from all three would be intermin-
gled on one sheet. From the report of P^checo, it appears
that Rubens also made painted copies of all three paint-
ings as well as the other Titians in the Spanish royal col-
lection (Jaffe 1977, p. 33; Held, in Rosand 1982, p. 306).
Apparently, only one of these painted copies has sur-
vived, the Diana and Callisto (Knowsley, Earl of Derby).
It has been suggested by Jaffe (1971, p. 43) that Rubens
already had these copies in mind when he made this
drawing, whereas A.-M. Logan believes the drawing
was made for its own sake, reflecting Rubens' interest in
the paintings.^2 She is certainly correct in pointing out that
the sheet is more than a direct copy; it contains none of
the characteristics one would expect to find in a drawing
made principally to record forms for later use. This does
not invalidate the possibility that it was used later when
Rubens painted his copies after Titian. Indeed it was
noted by Burchard (Gliick and Haberditzl 1928, p. 28)
that the head at the bottom right of the sheet reappears
in Rubens' painting The Bath of Diana (circa 1632-1635;
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen). Simi-
larly, the attendant wiping Diana's feet in Rubens' Diana
and Callisto now in the Prado appears to reflect the lower
two heads on the sheet, as was already hinted by Held
(1982, p. 324). Although no doubt made as a spontaneous
reaction to Titian's pictures, the drawing clearly had con-
siderable usefulness to Rubens in his own paintings.
In terms of style, the drawing is exemplary of the
artist's graphic colorism. It was made in a trois crayonsRUBENS • FLEMISH SCHOOL 213