Venus and nymphs lamenting over the dead Adonis, after Giulio Romano

Details

Italian School, 16th Century, retouched by Erasmus Quellinus (Antwerp 1607-1678)
Venus and nymphs lamenting over the dead Adonis, after Giulio Romano
with inscription 'N^o. 10' (on the verso)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white and yellow bodycolour, made up at lower right and left, on two joined sheets
12½ x 21¾ in. (31.8 x 55 cm.)

Provenance

Probably Erasmus Quellinus, his inventory of 1678, 'Venus ende Adonis met brenginge vant wilt vercken, naer Julio Romeyn, Erasmus Quellinus geteekent' (E. Duverger, Antwerpse kunstinventarissen uit de zeventiende eeuw, 1984-2002, X, p. 358).
Sir Peter Lely (L. 2092).
P.H. Lankrink (L. 2090).
Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke and 7th Earl of Montgomery, by whom bound into an album of drawings at Wilton House dated 25 November 1772; and by descent
Sotheby's, London, 5-10 July 1917, lot 493 (as Giulio Romano).
V. Koch; Sotheby's, London, 29 June 1949, lot 109 (as Rubens, after Giulio Romano).

Literature

M. Jaffé, Rubens and Giulio, 1958, pp. 326-7, n. 16 (as retouched by Rubens).
R. Kultzen, 'Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburger Kunstsammlungen, XI, 1966, pp. 217-8, fig. 5 (as Anonymous 16th-Century, retouched by Rubens).
M. Jaffé, Rubens and Italy, 1977, pp. 43, 110, n. 29 (as retouched by Rubens).
A. Balis, Niewdorp, Cantoor, 1993, p. 152 (as retouched by Rubens). J. Wood, Copies and Adaptation from Renaissance and Later Italian Artists: Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Buchard XXVI (2), I, Raphael and his School, Turnhout, 2010, p. 444, no. R23 (as 16th-Century artist after Giulio Romano, retouched by Erasmus Quellinus).

Special notice

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Lot Essay

After one of four compositions by Giulio Romano, on the theme of hunting, probably designed for the Gonzaga hunting lodge at Marmirolo. Another version of this composition, by a follower of Giulio Romano, was sold as part of the Ellesmere Collection at Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1972, lot 59 (Private collection, London). Further copies of the composition can be found in the Louvre (inv. 3490 and 3660). The original drawing by Giulio appears to be lost.

Although the drawing has been associated with Rubens since Victor Koch's sale at Sotheby's in 1949, Jeremy Wood has recently suggested that the original drawing is by a sixteenth-century Italian artist and that the later retouchings are by Erasmus Quellinus. In the artist's inventory a drawing of this subject was mentioned, after Giulio Romano, 'geteekent' (retouched) by Quellinus himself.

We are grateful to Jeremy Wood for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.

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