drawing
- Museum number
- SL,5237.66
- Description
-
Two studies of St Mary Magdalene; both standing to right, holding a book in her right hand and a pot of ointment in her left
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- Late 15thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 195 millimetres
-
Width: 173 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This sheet can be interpreted as a model drawing of a stock type used in a painter's workshop (for frequently depicted motifs), for example when applying underdrawings on panels. Karel Boon recognised stylistic similarities with two sheets in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, inv.nos.RP-T-1963-263 and 264 (as connected to Circle of Hugo van der Goes); see K.G. Boon, 'Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries in the Rijksmuseum', Amsterdam, 1978, cat.no.16-17.
Ainsworth compares this drawing's graphic mannerism with the underdrawing of the right wing of Gerard David's triptych 'Christ nailed to the Cross', dated around 1480, 'Mary and John with the Female Mourners', now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, inv.no.180. Although no attribution can be made for the drawing, it is clear that David had similar drawings at his disposal in his workshop when preparing paintings.
Literature: Maryan W. Ainsworth, 'Gerard David: Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition', New York, 1998, pp.96-97-133, fig.99 (as Netherlandish, late 15th century).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1973, BM, Netherlandish prints and drawings (no cat.)
- Acquisition date
- 1753
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- SL,5237.66
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: A,22.66
