Circle of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Antwerp)
Lot 135

Circle of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Antwerp)

A male nude, possibly Prometheus

Closed13 May 2015

Price Realised

EUR 6,250

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Circle of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Antwerp)
A male nude, possibly Prometheus
with inscription 'S.P.W.' (once on the recto and once on the verso)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, grey wash, the top corners cut
27.8 x 16.3 cm.

probably A. Mos; R.W.P. de Vries, Amsterdam, 7-8 November 1928, lot number unknown; where purchased by I.Q. van Regteren Altena for 19.55 guilders (Inventory book: '553. t. Rubens?? naakt').



Specialist note

A copy with differences after a figure in Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. The composition of the present drawing was engraved by Paulus Pontius (1603-1658) around 1630 as Plate 6 in the Livre à dessiner (Hollstein 157), assembled from material associated with Rubens and others in his circle, but Jeremy Wood suggests that Pontius did not base his engraving on the present drawing but on another one, today untraced. Another version (possibly a copy) of the present drawing, more complete and untrimmed, is in the Art Institute, Chicago (inv. 1922.3107).