HERMANN WEYER
ij6 The Judgment of Midas
Pen and black ink, black, ocher, reddish, and gray wash,
and white gouache heightening; H: 22.1 cm (8JI/i6 in.);
W: 27 cm (io^5 /s in.)
85.00.29 3
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left corner,
signed H... V... Inventor / HEW fecit 1616 inblzck ink.
PROVENANCE: Sale, Sotheby's, Amsterdam, March 21,
1977, lot n; private collection, England; art market,
London.EXHIBITIONS: Old Master and igth Century Drawings, P.
and D. Colnaghi and Co., London, November 1977,
no. 4.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Geissler, Zeichnung in Deutschland
1540-1640, exh. cat., Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1979, vol.
i, p. 230 ; T. DaC. Kaufmann, Drawings from the Holy Ro-
man Empire 1540-1680, exh. cat., Art Museum, Prince-
ton University, 1982, p. 80.
THIS COMPOSITION IS CLOSELY BASED UPON THE
painting by Hendrick van Balen in the Staatsgalerie
Stuttgart, as was first pointed out in the Colnaghi exhi-
bition catalogue (1977, no. 4). The painting dates from
1606, that is, a decade before the drawing, and their re-
lationship is significant evidence documenting Weyer's
trip to the Netherlands. The drawing follows van Balen's
painting in almost every respect, with a relatively minor
variation in the foliage in the right foreground, which is
more prominent in the drawn version. The technique
used in the drawing is characteristic of Weyer's finished
sheets, which were made as independent works. The
richly varied and rather dark tonality, the colorism cre-
ated by the ocher wash with white heightening, and the
strong black ink lines are all features common to this type
of drawing by him. As has been pointed out by Kauf-
mann (1982, p. 80), the technique recalls chiaroscuro
, prints, even though none of the drawings in this manner
were employed as studies for prints. The nude at the left
with her back to the viewer brings to mind bronzes by
the Northern followers of Giambologna, in both surface
effect and tonality. A drawing of comparable style and
date showing the Adoration of the Magi is in the Crocker
Art Museum, Sacramento (inv. 1871.19; Kaufmann
1982 , no. 22).304 GERMAN SCHOOL • WEYER