drawing;
sketch-book
- Museum number
- 1957,1214.207.28
- Description
-
The Massacre of the Innocents; after Giorgione; leaf from van Dyck's Italian Sketchbook (containing 121 leaves)
Black chalk, traced over in pen and black ink by a later hand
Verso: Male saint with the Infant Christ, at left; Virgin and Child with a kneeling man, at right, after Titian
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- 1614-1641
- Dimensions
-
Height: 199 millimetres
-
Width: 151 millimetres (sight measurement)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See Curatorial comment for BM 1957-12-14-207.1.
Jaffé suggests that the male saint at the left of verso might be St Christopher. The drawing below is based on a Titian painting, the original of which may be the one in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court (see Joanides on this attribution). Van Dyck changed the pose of the kneeling donor so that he stretches forward to grab the Christ Child, an indecorous - if naturalistic - idea not found in the painting.
Literature: Michael Jaffé, 'The Devonshire Collection of Northern European Drawings, A Complete Catalogue', vol.I, 2002, p. 92; Lit.: P. Joannides, 'Titian's "Unidentified Donor Presented to the Virgin and Child by Saint Luke" at Hampton Court', "Colnaghi Studies Journal", 1, October 2017, p. 111, fig. 6
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1957
- Acquisition notes
- See Acquisition history in BM 1957-12-14-207.1 for further details of provenance.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1957,1214.207.28
