Jan de Bisschop (1628-1671)

Details
Jan de Bisschop (1628-1671)

Mercury, Hercules and Bacchus; Laetitia Publica, Minerva and two Women with a Child; and Marcus Aurelius and Studies of Chiron with a Putto, seen from two angles

inscribed 'Latitia publica.' and 'Fra Bart:est ...'; red chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, the second on two attached sheets
5¼ x 8¼in. (134 x 210mm.); and smallerthree on one mount (3)
Literature
J.G. van Gelder, Jan de Bisschop, The Hague, 1972, no. 112, p. 26, fig. 63.
Engraved
(2) in reverse, by Jan de Bisschop.

Lot Essay

The sculptures of Mercury, the resting Faun and Bacchus on the top drawing are after Antique models. The faun is reversed in comparison to the original and was probably copied from a print.The figures on the right of the second drawing are copied from a drawing by Bandinelli, now in the Uffizi, for a relief in the Basilica della Santa Casa, in Loreto, R. Ward, Baccio Bandinelli, Drawings from British Collections, Cambridge, 1988, fig. 10 and 8. The figure of Minerva is, according to Bisschop's annotation on the drawing, after Fra Bartolommeo, and the Victory, following the inscription on the print, is copied from a classical marble sculpture.
The Chiron on the lower drawing reproduces the centaur with a putto, that used to stand in Hadrian's villa. The Marcus Aurelius is also reversed in comparison to the Roman bronze that used to stand on the Campidoglio.