Abraham Bloemaert (Gorinchem 1564/66-1651 Utrecht)

Evidently studied from life, this sensitive drawing is a preparatory study for the figure of Christ in Bloemaert’s painting of The Lamentation in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (circa 1625; Roethlisberger, op. cit., no. 390; Fig. 2). The composition and Christ's pose may have been originally inspired by Jacob Matham's print of the same subject (1607; New Hollstein, 'Jacob Matham', I, no. 60), and the existence of three different preparatory drawings for Bloemaert's painting allows the compositional development to be traced in some detail. Albert Elen (2011, op. cit.) suggests that Bloemaert began with the very loose preparatory drawing in the Louvre (Bolten, op. cit., no. 170), which established the position of the various figures. This was then submitted to the patron for a first approval, and returned with ideas for amendments, such as moving Saint John the Evangelist to a slightly more prominent position. Once he had confirmed the general composition, Bloemaert then made studies of the various figures from life, of which the present drawing is the only surviving example. Using soft chalks and stumping, he achieved a high level of naturalism that is almost Italianate in mood. Even at this stage Bloemaert was still experimenting: the present drawing shows him exploring two alternative ways of positioning the model's legs, and in fact it was the subsidiary study, with the right leg crossed over the left at the ankle, which was eventually chosen for the painting. The last step in the preparatory process was the squared modello now also in the Boijmans (Paris, 2014, op. cit., no. 109; Fig. 1). In this final composition drawing, and in the painting itself, Bloemaert again introduced slight amendments to the pose studied in the present drawing. In the picture, Christ's head is turned towards the mourners and the lie of his right arm has been adjusted to a more severe, and slightly less naturalistic, straight line.