CORNELIS CORNELISZ. VAN HAARLEM
103 Two Male Nudes
Grisaille in oil on paper; H: 27.2 cm (lo^11 /^ in.); W: 19.
cm (j^9 A6 in.)
84.00.3 2
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Verso) inscribed 2 i
brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Private collection, France (sale, Hote
Drouot, Paris, February 15 , 1984, lot 37).
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. O. Hand et al., The Age of Bruegel
Netherlandish Drawings in the Sixteenth Century, exh. cat.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and Pier
pont Morgan Library, New York, November 1986
January 1987 and January-April 1987, p. 121, under no
39, n. 2.2 n l : , - -.THIS OIL-ON-PAPER STUDY FIRST APPEARED AT AU
tion in Paris in 1984 with the correct attribution to C
nelis by C. van Hasselt.^1 Two other works in this mediu
are known by the artist,^2 who seems to have made the
with some frequency, to judge from those mentioned
his inventory.^3 Van Thiel has suggested that Cornelis'
study on paper in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Stud
of a Seated Naked Man and of Two Women (inv. 65:16
was made in preparation for a painting,^4 and the sa
may well be true of the Museum's drawing. The latt
which may be a study for only a portion of a compo
tion, has thus far defied iconographic interpretation.
L. Hendrix has pointed out, the visual contrast betwe
muscular adult men and young boys occurs elsewhere
Cornelis' work, notably in the drawing Olympic Gam
(Warsaw, Cabinet Rycin Biblioteki Uniwersytecki
inv. 497),^5 his painting of the Massacre of the Innoce
(Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum), and the engraving
Muller after Cornelis of Ulysses and Irus (6.30^7
v.4,3). In addition, A.-M. Logan has noted a similar p
of figures at the right of Cornelis' painting The First Fa
ily (Quimper, Musee Municipal des Beaux-Arts)
I589.^6 These examples all share a common late Manner
muscularity characteristic of Cornelis' style at this jun
ture. In terms of execution, the Museum's study is ne
est to the Mercury in the Kunstsammlungen der Univ
sitat, Gottingen,^7 with its rich tonal modulation a
brilliant white accents. These relationships all argue f
a date of around 1590 for the Two Male Nudes.- Van Hasselt's opinion was conveyed to the author by B.
Bayser in 1984. - P.J.J. van Thiel, "Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem a
Draughtsman," Master Drawings 3, no. 2 (1965), n. 30. - A. Bredius, Kunstler-inventare, vol. 7 (The Hague, 1921),
79- - P. J. J. van Thiel, "Keuze uit de aanwinsten," Bulletin van
Rijksmuseum 13, no. 2 (1965), p. 73. - Van Thiel (note 2), no. 20.
- Letter to the author, June 11, 1986.
- Van Thiel (note 2), no. 12.
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ordes ap.het232 DUTCH SCHOOL • CORNELISZ. VAN HAARLEM