- Museum number
- 1895,0915.653
- Description
-
A man leading a horse, after Polidoro da Caravaggio; whole-length to front, the man looking round to right
Brush drawing in brown wash, with some pen and brown ink, heightened with white, over black chalk, on grey-brown prepared paper
- Production date
- 1602-1609
- Dimensions
-
Height: 425 millimetres
-
Width: 234 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This drawing is derived from a composition by Polidoro da Caravaggio painted on the façade of the Palazzo Milesi in Rome. Logan 1977 argues that the copy was produced by an anonymous Italian artist, and subsequently acquired and retouched by Rubens. It is possible that Rubens also knew of the design via a print, as he is known to have done with Marcantonio’s engravings. The drawing is notable for its strong chiaroscuro and dynamic movement that Rubens used to animate what may have been a static and heavy copy drawing. In terms of the dating for this intervention, Logan has favoured a date of circa 1605-1608 when Rubens was on his second trip to Italy, while Wood 2011 instead argues that the character of the reworking is more like Rubens' work of the 1630s.
Lit: J. Rowlands, ‘Rubens: Drawings & Sketches', exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 1977’, no.32; A.M. Logan, ‘Review: Rubens Exhibitions’. Master Drawings, Vol. 15, No. 4 (Winter 1977), p.413; J. Wood, ‘Corpus Rubenianum XXVI.2.I / Copies and Adaptations from Renaissance and Later Artists: Italian Artists; I. Raphael and his School’, London & Turnhout 2010, no. 90
Entry from J. Rowlands, 'Rubens: Drawings & Sketches', exhibition catalogue, London, British Museum, 1977:
This is a copy by Rubens after a detail of the frieze by Polidoro da Caravaggio, immediately above the ground floor on the façade of the Palazzo Milesi in the Via della Maschera d'Oro, Rome. Now only traces of the decoration are to be seen. But fortunately the decorative scheme, and in particular the frieze, were much copied, and it was engraved by G. B. Galestruzzi and J. Sanraedam amongst others.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1962/3 Nov-Sep, BM, Raphael and his Circle (P+G)
1977 BM, Rubens drawings and sketches, no.32
1977 Oct-Dec, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, 'Rubens in Italy', no. 78a
1996/7 Sep-Jan, BM, Malcolm Collection, no.78
2000 Mar-Jun, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizione, 'Roma Antica e Moderna'
2002 Jun-Sep, Edinburgh, N.G. Scotland, 'Rubens and Italian Art'
2002 Sep-Dec, Nottingham, Djanogly Art Gall, 'Rubens and Italian Art'
2009/10 Nov-Jan BM, P&D, 'Rubens Drawings' (no cat.)
2013 May-Sep, Louvre Lens, 'Rubens et l'Europe'
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.653
