The Adoration of the Shepherds

As clarified by the artist’s inscription on the verso, this sheet copies a composition of a painting by Rubens which is only known through copies after it. One of these copies is in the Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna (see H. Devisscher and H. Vlieghe, The Life of Christ before the Passion. The Youth of Christ, Turnhout, 2014, I, p. 65, II, fig. 33), and another was sold at Christie’s, New York, 26 January 2011, lot 119. Both compositions are close to that of the present drawing.