- Museum number
- 1885,0509.1578
- Description
-
A counterproof of the etching by Rombout Eynhoudts, Sacra Conversazione with St Bonaventure and St George; after the painting by Rubens in the Chapel of Rubens's Mortuary Monument in the Sint-Jacobskerk in Antwerp; the Virgin and child seated at right before an arch of plants; St Bonaventure kneeling in front of her; three women behind him; St George at left - with Rubens's features - holding a flag, the dead dragon lying in foreground; St Jerome seated on the lion at right, an angel resting on his book; four angels above in the sky, one holding a palm, an other one a crown of flowers
Red chalk and brown wash, over counterproof of etching
- Production date
- 1781 (c.)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 347 millimetres
-
Width: 252 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See Donato Esposito, 'Sir Joshua Reynolds: The acquisition of genius', Plymouth 2009, cat.83. The counterproof is in the same direction as the altarpiece of Rubens for his family chapel in Sint-Jacobskerk, Antwerp. The colouring was added by Reynolds, presumably when he visited the Netherlands in 1781, and the colour notes are in his hand.
For another impression of this print without the colouring see 1891,0414.1304. A study by Wilkie after the same picture is also in the department, see 1865,0708.146.
Literature: "Rubens and his Legacy: from Van Dyck to Cézanne", exh.cat. Bozar Brussels and Royal Academy of Arts London, 2015, cat.no.101.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2009/10 Nov-Feb, Plymouth City Mus & AG, Sir Joshua Reynolds ...
2014-5, Sep-Jan, Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 'Rubens and his Legacy'
2015, Jan-Apr, London, RA, 'Rubens and his Legacy'
- Acquisition date
- 1885
- Acquisition notes
- This print was in Reynolds's sale at Phillips, London, 12 March 1798, part of lot 640 as '4 [prints] from Rubens, retouched by Sir Joshua Reynolds, with remarks on the margin'.
Thibaudeau acted as an agent for the British Museum at the Russell sale in December 1884, see 1885,0509.1574-1607 which are described in the Register as 'Purchased at the Russell sale, M. Thibaudeau comm[issioned]'. Some of the other drawings Thibaudeau purchased at the same sale were subsequently sold to the British Museum in 1885; see 1885,0509.33-51 and 1885,0711.271-303.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1885,0509.1578
