- Museum number
- SL,5218.17
- Description
-
Head of the Virgin, study for the painting 'The Death of the Virgin' (Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf); head and shoulders turned to right, her head bowed down and covered by a head-scarf
Black chalk, on pale orange-red tinted paper
Verso: The crucified Christ; figure study (lower arms and legs missing), head tilted forward and eyes closed, wearing a knotted loin cloth
Black chalk, on pale orange-red tinted paper
- Production date
- 1527-1539 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 146 millimetres
-
Width: 107 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Summary of J.Rowlands 'Drawings by German Artists and Artists from German-speaking regions of Europe in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum: the Fifteenth Century, and the Sixteenth Century by Artists born before 1530', London, BM Press, 1993, no. 294:
As noted by Winkler the drawing on the recto is a study for the head and shoulders of the kneeling Virgin in the painting 'The Death of the Virgin' in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf. The study on the verso for the torso of Christ is in the same hand but is unlikely to be for the figure on the Crucifix above the altar in the background of the picture. A further study of an inclined head, with features similar to those of an apostle reading a book towards the back of the church on the right in the painting at Düsseldorf, is in the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden (inv. no. c. 1967-17; 'Altdeutsche Zeichnungen-Ausstellung des Kupferstich-Kabinetts', Dresden, 1963, p. 23, no. 33, pl. 57). 'The Death of the Virgin' was formerly in the Binder Collection, Berlin, and has been at Düsseldorf since 1947; to this there were added in 1956 two panels, 'Christ taking leave of the Apostles' and 'Christ giving the keys to St Peter', which are most likely to have originally been part of the same altarpiece. When the central panel made its appearance in 1913 it was attributed to Aertgen van Leyden ('Noord-Nederlandsche schilder- en beeldhouwkunst voor 1575', Utrecht, 1913, no. 38). Subsequently Winkler, noting the strong German flavour of the work, attributed it to the Bavarian master Abraham Schöpfer, pupil and follower of Wolf Huber (Thieme-Becker, xvii, p. 306), together with a series of roundel designs (which include1920,0420.6 and 1920,0420.7 now also attributed to Hogenberg). Boon has provided an enticing solution, which would reconcile the Dutch and German elements of these works, by proposing that they could be by Nicolaus Hogenberg, who was from Munich, and who moved to Malines the 1520s. On the basis of his verifiable works, both as the painter of the altarpiece now in Düsseldorf and as the designer of the series of roundels, Hogenberg is a most plausible candidate, in stylistic terms, as well as from the evidence of his career.
Lit. from Rowlands 1993: F. Winkler, Prussian Jahrbuch, lvi, 1935, pp. 117; K.G. Boon, 'Rondom Aertgen', Miscellanea I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Amsterdam, 1969, pp. 55-60; Winzinger, Huber, i, p. 135, no. 158 (verso), no. 159 (recto), ii, pls. 158, 159
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1753
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- SL,5218.17
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: C,07.17