.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Buytewech produced several series of drawings, some of which he copied once or even twice, possibly for his own use, such as the series of The law according to Count Willem II of 1618. Four drawings survive from this series, which he copied with slight changes in 1619. Five autograph drawings after the second series are known and are drawn on coarse paper. H. van de Waal (Drie eeuwen vaderlandse geschied-uitbeelding, 1500-1800, The Hague, 1952, I, p. 273) first suggested that the latter series could have been drawn as Liber Veritatis copies for the artist's own use.
He suggested the same for Buytewech's drawings of Cain killing Abel, and two drawings from the series of The Story of Tobias (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam) that are drawn on similar paper, Van de Waal, op. cit., II, p. 131, no. 2. Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Willem Buytewech, Amsterdam, 1959, pp. 82-3, 87 and 91, supported this opinion, dating all drawings to 1619 or slightly later. The Rotterdam sheets, Tobit and Anna waiting for the Return of Tobias and Tobias healing his Father's Blindness, are comparable in subject, technique, handling and size and may be part of a series which would have included Buytewech's lost preliminary study for Jan van de Velde's etching Tobit and Anna with the Goat (H.[XXXIV] [6]).
As Van Tatenhove has pointed out, the present lot is likewise comparable in subject, technique, handling and size, and therefore belongs to the above series. It would complete a series of six subjects, two of which have yet to be rediscovered.
He suggested the same for Buytewech's drawings of Cain killing Abel, and two drawings from the series of The Story of Tobias (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam) that are drawn on similar paper, Van de Waal, op. cit., II, p. 131, no. 2. Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Willem Buytewech, Amsterdam, 1959, pp. 82-3, 87 and 91, supported this opinion, dating all drawings to 1619 or slightly later. The Rotterdam sheets, Tobit and Anna waiting for the Return of Tobias and Tobias healing his Father's Blindness, are comparable in subject, technique, handling and size and may be part of a series which would have included Buytewech's lost preliminary study for Jan van de Velde's etching Tobit and Anna with the Goat (H.[XXXIV] [6]).
As Van Tatenhove has pointed out, the present lot is likewise comparable in subject, technique, handling and size, and therefore belongs to the above series. It would complete a series of six subjects, two of which have yet to be rediscovered.