- Museum number
- 1883,0714.77
- Description
-
The Arrest of Christ; Christ seized by soldiers dressed in oriental costume, Malthus, who has been thrown to the ground, is lying on his back holding a lamp, being attacked by St Peter, two disciples behind
Silverpoint, heightened with white, on light green prepared paper
- Production date
- 1400-1420
- Dimensions
-
Height: 117 millimetres
-
Width: 130 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This sheet was described by Popham in 1926 as near in style to the Limbourg Brothers; it was previously attributed by Winkler to Hand G of the Turin-Milan Hours. Convinced by Popham, Winkler later suggested an attribution to Paul Limbourg (followed by for instance Panofsky). The attribution to Hand G (sometimes identified as Hubert van Eyck) was later reinstated, based on the similarities of some figures in this sheet with illuminated manuscripts in the Hours. Koreny demonstrates that they are actually quite different and attributes the drawing to an unidentified Netherlandish draughtsman around 1410-20, predating Jan van Eyck.
Literature: A.E. Popham, 'Drawings of the Early Flemish School', London, 1926, cat.no.2; F. Winkler, in Prussian Jahrbuch 44 (1923), p.139; Erwin Panofsky, 'Early Netherlandish Painting: Its origin and character', Harvard UP, Cambridge Mass, 1953, p.233 (note 6); Otto Pächt, 'Van Eyck: Die Begründer der altniederländischen Malerei', Munich, 1989, pp.201-202, fig.123; Fritz Koreny, 'Early Netherlandish Drawings from Jan van Eyck to Hieronymus Bosch', exh.cat. Rubenshuis Antwerp, 2002, cat.no.1 (as Netherlandish draughtsman circa 1410-20); S. Kemperdick and F. Lammertse, 'The Road to Van Eyck', exh.cat. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2012, p.68 , fig.3; Iris Brahms, ' Zwischen Licht und Schatten: zur Tradition der Farbgrundzeichnung bis Albrecht Dürer', Paderborn, 2016, p. 133, fig. III.20; John Oliver Hand in 'Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns', edited by Stacey Sell and Hugo Chapman, Princeton and Oxford, 2015, p. 28, pl. 3; Joanna Russell, Judith Rayner and Jenny Bescoby, ' Northern European Metalpoint Drawings: technical examination and analysis', London, 2016, p. 74.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1973, BM, Netherlandish prints and drawings (no cat.)
2002 June-Aug, Antwerp, Rubenshuis, 'Marvels of Delight:...'
2015 May-Jul, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 'Drawing in Silver and Gold'
2015 10 Sep-6 Dec, London, British Museum, 'Drawing in Silver and Gold'
- Acquisition date
- 1883
- Acquisition notes
- 1883,0714.77 to 83 came from two lots at the Sunderland sale. The BM copy of the catalogue is annotated by Popham, and states that all the drawings came from four volumes with the Sagredo arms on the cover which were broken up for the sale. They had been purchased by Zaccaria Sagredo from the Buonfiglio family in Bologna before 1728 (see Bottari II p.186). In 1763 John Udny purchased them from the heirs of Zaccaria Sagredo and brought the albums to England where they enetered the Sunderland collection.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1883,0714.77