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Lot Essay
The recto is a study for the figure of Joseph praying in Bloemaert's picture of the Adoration of the Magi in the Musée de Peinture et Sculpture, Grenoble, M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and his Sons, Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk, 1993, no. 386, plate XVI, which is dated to circa 1623-4. The putto's head verso would seem to be the study for the putto in the centre of the far background above, while the drapery study does not seem to have been used in the altarpiece. Roethlisberger describes the picture as the most important after Bloemaert's Intercession of 1615 at Den Bosch, and as his 'second largest painting, his most festive and exuberant altarpiece, one of his finest works altogether, painted for no less a place than the high altar of the newly-built Jesuit church in Brussels' (op. cit., p. 252).
Bloemaert's large, finished drawing of the same composition is in the Prentenkabinet, Leiden (Roethlisberger, op. cit., D21, fig. 537), and was probably executed later than the picture. Two studies of a king kneeling, in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (E. Bock, J. Rosenberg, Die Niederländischen Zeichnungen, Berlin, 1930, no. 5428), and the National Gallery, Prague (A. Bollovà, Bulletin of the museum, 1991, no. 124), are regarded as preliminary studies for the altarpiece.
The head of the man is similar to that engraved after Bloemaert for the Konstrijck Tekenboek by Abraham's son Frederik, no. 10. Professor Bolten has kindly confirmed the attribution and pointed out the Provenance.
Bloemaert's large, finished drawing of the same composition is in the Prentenkabinet, Leiden (Roethlisberger, op. cit., D21, fig. 537), and was probably executed later than the picture. Two studies of a king kneeling, in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (E. Bock, J. Rosenberg, Die Niederländischen Zeichnungen, Berlin, 1930, no. 5428), and the National Gallery, Prague (A. Bollovà, Bulletin of the museum, 1991, no. 124), are regarded as preliminary studies for the altarpiece.
The head of the man is similar to that engraved after Bloemaert for the Konstrijck Tekenboek by Abraham's son Frederik, no. 10. Professor Bolten has kindly confirmed the attribution and pointed out the Provenance.