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Lot Essay
Adriaen van de Velde, the son and brother of artists, was primarily a landscape painter, but also made many drawings as well as prints. He was one of the few artists in the Netherlands in the 17th Century whose graphic oeuvre included a substantial number of figure studies made after live models, only some of which are related to his paintings. William Robinson counted about forty extant figure drawings by Adriaen of which at least sixteen can be related to paintings or prints (exh. cat., Seventeenth Century Dutch drawings from North American collections, Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, and elsewhere, 1977, p. 85, under no. 80). The present drawing is related to A pastoral landscape with a dairymaid milking a cow, with a youth, a dog and another cow at the foot of a tree, two shepherds beyond, also formerly in the collection of Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann (Fig. 1; and also sold, Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 549). In the painting, the young man is seated at the lower right of the composition. The painting is dated '1665' and therefore the drawing was probably executed around this same period. This dating is consistent with what we know about van de Velde's development during his short career. After 1660 more figures appear in his paintings, and his figure drawing output is thought to have increased.
Adraein made a red chalk figure study of a male nude in the same pose (Robinson, op. cit., p. 55, fig. 1). It is a rare example of the artist making two studies of a single figure, both nude and clothed. Robinson compared the present sheet to van de Velde's Study of a boy playing a flute (sale, P. Brandt, Amsterdam, 17-18 November 1959, lot 101). In addition, the model appears to be the same one as in Adriaen's drawing Two studies of a shepherd lying down in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (Inv. RP-T-1885-A-499; G. Luijten and J.P. Filedt Kok, The Glory of the Golden Age: Dutch Art of the 17th Century: Drawings and Prints, exh. cat., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2000, pp. 90-1, fig. 67). With his long hair over his collar, softly tailored jacket with nipped in waist and short trousers, it appears likely that it is the same model in both drawings. The technique is similar too: a lightly applied black chalk under drawing with red chalk over it, used with a very fine point, to a broader, blended thicker lines. The use of the reserve of the paper to create dramatic contrast and thereby modeling of the figure is also characteristic of van de Velde's graphic style.
Like most of Adriaen's drawings, this sheet is neither signed nor dated, but it does bear an old attribution to his contemporary, Karel Dujardin (1626-1678), whose Italianate paintings were an influence on him.
Adraein made a red chalk figure study of a male nude in the same pose (Robinson, op. cit., p. 55, fig. 1). It is a rare example of the artist making two studies of a single figure, both nude and clothed. Robinson compared the present sheet to van de Velde's Study of a boy playing a flute (sale, P. Brandt, Amsterdam, 17-18 November 1959, lot 101). In addition, the model appears to be the same one as in Adriaen's drawing Two studies of a shepherd lying down in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam (Inv. RP-T-1885-A-499; G. Luijten and J.P. Filedt Kok, The Glory of the Golden Age: Dutch Art of the 17th Century: Drawings and Prints, exh. cat., Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2000, pp. 90-1, fig. 67). With his long hair over his collar, softly tailored jacket with nipped in waist and short trousers, it appears likely that it is the same model in both drawings. The technique is similar too: a lightly applied black chalk under drawing with red chalk over it, used with a very fine point, to a broader, blended thicker lines. The use of the reserve of the paper to create dramatic contrast and thereby modeling of the figure is also characteristic of van de Velde's graphic style.
Like most of Adriaen's drawings, this sheet is neither signed nor dated, but it does bear an old attribution to his contemporary, Karel Dujardin (1626-1678), whose Italianate paintings were an influence on him.