Circle of Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599-1641 Blackfriars)

Johan van der Marck's annotation on the verso states that he purchased the drawing at the Huquier sale in 1761, at which date it was attributed to Rubens. In the 1976-77 catalogue, it was described as a preparatory drawing for a painting by van Dyck in Vienna, showing the apostle Judas Thaddeus with his attribute of the set-square (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. 6809; Barnes et al., op. cit., I. 56). Another version of the painting, also by van Dyck, is in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (inv. 2434; Barnes et al., op. cit., I. 66). The two pictures belong to two separate series showing Christ and the Apostles, executed in the artist's first Antwerp period. The attribution to van Dyck for this drawing was rejected by the authors of the catalogue raisonné of van Dyck paintings who suggested that it is a copy after a similar study in oil (Barnes et al., op. cit.).

An attribution to Lucas Franchoys has been suggested.