Jacques de Gheyn II (Antwerp 1565-1629 The Hague)

The short, loose and variegated strokes and the liberal use of dotting, characteristic of De Gheyn's late pen technique, argue for a date of circa 1620 for the present drawing. It can especially be compared to a group of eleven sheets, each bearing studies of two, three or four heads, that are closely related in size, media, and technique, and which van Regteren Altena suggested originally formed part of a sketchbook (op. cit., 1983, II, nos. 738-48). Nine of these sheets were part of the formidable Ploos van Amstel collection which also included the present work. The latter has evidently been cut from a larger sheet, and one can wonder if it was not originally part of the above mentioned sketchbook.