Lot Essay
The composition relates to a tapestry cartoon (paper on canvas, 92 x 196cm.) in a private collection, which was first sold at Drouot in Paris 23-24 April 1909, lot 39, and again on 14 December 1912, lot 69.
The present picture seems to correspond with that formerly in the collection of M. P. van der Ouderaa, Antwerp (see R. A. d'Hulst, op. cit., p. 334, note 29).
The subject belongs to a series of scenes taken from the Odyssey which were interpreted by Jordaens c. 1630-35 with the intention of making a series of tapestries dedicated to the story of Ulysses. Professor d'Hulst summarises the genesis of this series (see exposition catalogue Jacob Jordaens 1593-1678, Tableaux et Tapisseries, Antwerp, 1993, no. A44) and reviews the situation by explaining the role played by the compositional drawings and the paintings which, apart from the actual cartoons, can be considered both as large size modelli and as independent works of art.
Judging from a photograph, Professor d'Hulst regards the quality of the execution of the present picture as uneven and points to the likelihood of studio participation in spite of the presence of pentimenti around the head and the hand of Ulysses. He also points out that by comparing the composition of the tapestry cartoon sold at Drouot in 1912 with the present picture, the left section of the latter reveals that the chariot of Nausicaa must here have been slightly cut
The present picture seems to correspond with that formerly in the collection of M. P. van der Ouderaa, Antwerp (see R. A. d'Hulst, op. cit., p. 334, note 29).
The subject belongs to a series of scenes taken from the Odyssey which were interpreted by Jordaens c. 1630-35 with the intention of making a series of tapestries dedicated to the story of Ulysses. Professor d'Hulst summarises the genesis of this series (see exposition catalogue Jacob Jordaens 1593-1678, Tableaux et Tapisseries, Antwerp, 1993, no. A44) and reviews the situation by explaining the role played by the compositional drawings and the paintings which, apart from the actual cartoons, can be considered both as large size modelli and as independent works of art.
Judging from a photograph, Professor d'Hulst regards the quality of the execution of the present picture as uneven and points to the likelihood of studio participation in spite of the presence of pentimenti around the head and the hand of Ulysses. He also points out that by comparing the composition of the tapestry cartoon sold at Drouot in 1912 with the present picture, the left section of the latter reveals that the chariot of Nausicaa must here have been slightly cut