Attributed to Ferdinand Bol (Dordrecht 1616-1680 Amsterdam)

The subject of this drawing, taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, was often treated by Dutch artists, but receives a particularly suspenseful treatment here: while at left stands the beautiful Io, one of Jupiter’s lovers who was transformed in a white heifer, Mercury is about to draw his sword in order to kill the shepherd Argus, who has fallen asleep, leaning on his staff. Considered by Benesch to be by Rembrandt and dated by him around 1645 (op. cit.), the drawing style can be better compared to a group of drawings by or attributed to Ferdinand Bol (W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, I, New York, 1979, nos. 170, 202, 203, 210, 256, 257, ill.). For some of these sheets (notably nos. 202 and 203), the attribution to Bol has been doubted (see W. Robinson, review of Sumowski, op. cit., in Master Drawings, XX, 1982, no. 3, p. 284).

We are grateful to Peter Schatborn for suggesting the attribution and for his help in cataloguing this drawing.