- Museum number
- 1874,0808.2266
- Description
-
Portrait of an unknown young woman; almost half-length, looking to left, wearing a linen headdress, below at left the outline of a separate hand
Silverpoint on cream prepared paper
- Production date
- 1435-1440 (c.)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 166 millimetres
-
Width: 116 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Literature: A.E. Popham, 'Drawings of the Early Flemish School', London, 1926, cat.no.11; Dirk de Vos, 'Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works', Antwerp, 1999. cat.no.B10A (rejected as Weyden); Stephanie Buck, 'Die Niederländischen Zeichnungen des 15. Jahrhunderts im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett: Kritischer Katalog', Turnhout, 2001, p.94, fig.18 (only this and the Berlin 'Half-length figure of a man' KdZ 1372 serious contenders as autograph drawings by Rogier, but by different hands; ascribes Berlin drawing to his workshop); Fritz Koreny, 'Early Netherlandish Drawings from Jan van Eyck to Hieronymus Bosch', exh.cat. Rubenshuis Antwerp, 2002, cat.no.15; T. Ketelsen and U. Neidhardt (eds.), ''Das Geheimnis des Jan van Eyck", exh.cat. Dresden, 2005, p.63, fig.1; L. Campbell and J. van der Stock, 'Rogier van der Weyden 1400-1464: Master of Passions', exh.cat. Museum M Leuven, 2009, cat.no.24 (as Rogier van der Weyden); 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. 30, pl. 7; Joanna Russell, Judith Rayner and Jenny Bescoby, ' Northern European Metalpoint Drawings: technical examination and analysis', London, 2016, p. 32, 76.
For other versions of the same subject see also 1895,0915.1000 and the verso of a drawing in the Universiteitsbibliotheek, Leiden, inv.no.PK 2311.
Label copy 2005:
Of the few drawings that might be attributed to Rogier van der Weyden, one of the greatest artists of fifteenth-century Flanders, this is the most likely to be autograph. In style it is also similar to Jan van Eyck, as seen in the underdrawing of his Arnolfini Portrait in the National Gallery in London.
The sitter has not been identified and no related painting is known. From her pose it is thought that the design may have been paired with another portrait, perhaps of her husband.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1973, BM, Netherlandish prints and drawings (no cat.)
1984, BM, Master Drawings & Watercolours, no. 76
2000/1 Dec-Feb, BM Great Court, Human Image
2002 June-Aug, Antwerp, Rubenshuis, 'Marvels of Delight:...'
2005 July-Sept, BM, Masterpieces of Portrait Drawing (no cat.)
2009 Sep-Dec, Leuven, Municipal Museum, Rogier van der Weyden
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
- 1874
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1874,0808.2266