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Lot Essay
The Virgin, as Queen of Heaven, is seated before a niche and holds the Christ Child, who turns to bless a kneeling bishop (Saint Augustine?). He kneels in the place of honor on Christ's right; behind three male Saints adore the Infant Christ - Saint George (?) and Saint Francis and an unidentified royal saint. The Virgin turns to Saint Mary Magdalen kneeling before Her; behind are three female Saints adoring the Christ Child - Saint Catherine, Saint Barbara and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
Only known to Rooses, Burchard (file in the Rubenianum) and Held (initially) by photographs or reproductions, but accepted by them; the attribution was confirmed by Professor Held after an examination of the original prior to its sale in 1986. The sketch was then fully published by him in 1987, when he described it 'as an important addition to the body of the oil sketches of the master'.
Dated by Burchard circa 1630 and slightly later by Held (circa 1631-1633), the form of the throne and the general arrangement of the figures are comparable to the contemporaneous Ildefonso altarpiece (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). The throne, set between Solomonic rather than Corinthian columns, is closer to that in the altarpiece than in the modello for it in the Hermitage (Held, 1980, no. 412). As is usually the case with Rubens, elements are found in other compositions by the master and are here revived and recast for a new, different use. As Held points out, the pose of the kneeling bishop Saint is similar to that of the King in the centre of the Adoration of the Magi, now in King's College Chapel, Cambridge of circa 1633; and the Saint George (?) is similar but in reverse to that of a Roman martyr in a modello of circa 1615 (Held, 1980, no. 431). The pose derives from that devised for Saint Maurus in Rubens's early altarpiece for Santa Maria in Vallicella. The Saint Francis connects in reverse with the pose of the Saint in the destroyed Virgin of the Rosary, painted for the Spanish chapel of the Dominican monastery in Brussels of 1621, see Jaffé, op. cit., under no. 671, for which there is a preparatory study (?) known by a copy (see H. Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Saints, I, London- New York, 1972, nos. 96-98a, p. 152). Held, 1987, suggested an analogy with the Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in the Frankfurt sketch for the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (Held, 1980, no. 384) for the Antwerp St. Augustine church. The pose of the Magdalen was first considered by Rubens in his early drawing of the Crowning of Thorns (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, see J.S. Held, Rubens Selected Drawings, London, I, 1959, no. 5), while Saint Elizabeth of Hungary recalls the Saint in the Hermitage sketch for the Ildefonso altarpiece.
Numbered by Rooses in his sequence, 210a, after the Kassel Virgin and Child with Saints and penitent sinners (he had earlier referred to the modello under his discussion of the Kassel picture). Rooses later described three of the personages as penitent sinners viz Saint Mary Magdalen, Saint Augustine and King David (to be identified by his regal attire). The Magdalen and King David appear in the Kassel picture and that at Munich of the same subject. In the former, Saint Francis, Saint George and Saint Augustine also appear. Thus it is possible that intended in the modello was a depiction of the Virgin and Child adored by saints and penitent sinners. But against this is Rubens's actual treatment of the scene, in which are depicted different ways of expressing adoration rather than penitent expiation. And in fact Held questioned whether the personage in regal attire was indeed to be identified as King David.
No commission is yet known with which this brilliant and fluently handled modello can be associated. Held believes that its format precludes the possibility that it was made in preparation for an altarpiece. The prominence of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, the patron saint of Isabella Clara Eugenia, the Governor of the Netherlands, suggests that the commission may have come from her for a private, devotional picture. Her death in 1633 may account for the commission apparently not having been carried out.
Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766) - the first recorded owner of this modello - is famous for his friendship with Watteau and for his collection of paintings by him. Between 1721-1735 he had engraved nearly all of Watteau's painted oeuvre. The two sales of Jullienne's paintings, drawings and prints and of his porcelain and lacquerwork comprising nearly 1700 lots in 1767 brought a huge total of nearly 530,000 livres.
Only known to Rooses, Burchard (file in the Rubenianum) and Held (initially) by photographs or reproductions, but accepted by them; the attribution was confirmed by Professor Held after an examination of the original prior to its sale in 1986. The sketch was then fully published by him in 1987, when he described it 'as an important addition to the body of the oil sketches of the master'.
Dated by Burchard circa 1630 and slightly later by Held (circa 1631-1633), the form of the throne and the general arrangement of the figures are comparable to the contemporaneous Ildefonso altarpiece (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). The throne, set between Solomonic rather than Corinthian columns, is closer to that in the altarpiece than in the modello for it in the Hermitage (Held, 1980, no. 412). As is usually the case with Rubens, elements are found in other compositions by the master and are here revived and recast for a new, different use. As Held points out, the pose of the kneeling bishop Saint is similar to that of the King in the centre of the Adoration of the Magi, now in King's College Chapel, Cambridge of circa 1633; and the Saint George (?) is similar but in reverse to that of a Roman martyr in a modello of circa 1615 (Held, 1980, no. 431). The pose derives from that devised for Saint Maurus in Rubens's early altarpiece for Santa Maria in Vallicella. The Saint Francis connects in reverse with the pose of the Saint in the destroyed Virgin of the Rosary, painted for the Spanish chapel of the Dominican monastery in Brussels of 1621, see Jaffé, op. cit., under no. 671, for which there is a preparatory study (?) known by a copy (see H. Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Saints, I, London- New York, 1972, nos. 96-98a, p. 152). Held, 1987, suggested an analogy with the Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in the Frankfurt sketch for the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (Held, 1980, no. 384) for the Antwerp St. Augustine church. The pose of the Magdalen was first considered by Rubens in his early drawing of the Crowning of Thorns (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, see J.S. Held, Rubens Selected Drawings, London, I, 1959, no. 5), while Saint Elizabeth of Hungary recalls the Saint in the Hermitage sketch for the Ildefonso altarpiece.
Numbered by Rooses in his sequence, 210
No commission is yet known with which this brilliant and fluently handled modello can be associated. Held believes that its format precludes the possibility that it was made in preparation for an altarpiece. The prominence of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, the patron saint of Isabella Clara Eugenia, the Governor of the Netherlands, suggests that the commission may have come from her for a private, devotional picture. Her death in 1633 may account for the commission apparently not having been carried out.
Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766) - the first recorded owner of this modello - is famous for his friendship with Watteau and for his collection of paintings by him. Between 1721-1735 he had engraved nearly all of Watteau's painted oeuvre. The two sales of Jullienne's paintings, drawings and prints and of his porcelain and lacquerwork comprising nearly 1700 lots in 1767 brought a huge total of nearly 530,000 livres.