Head of an apostle

This drawing is closely related to a series of some thirty drawings of prophets and other biblical figures in similar technique, format and design, most recently listed by J. Spicer (Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2004, pp. 42 and 167, under no. 11). Twenty of these were engraved by Cornelis Galle for the series Icones Prophetarum Veteris Testamenti, first published in Antwerp in 1613 (The New Hollstein, nos. 4-30; A. Baroni Vannucci, Jan Van Der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano, Flandrus pictor et inventor, Milan, 1997, pp. 414-5, no. 708, illustrated). Along with several other drawings from the series the present drawing does not seem to have been engraved. Other drawings from the series are in the The Art Institute of Chicago; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; the Walker Art Museum, Liverpool; the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris; the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute, London; and in several private collections.