Head of a sphinx

Details

Attributed to Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-1640 Antwerp)
Head of a sphinx
black and white chalk on brown paper
18¾ x 14¾ in. (47.6 x 37.5 cm.)

Provenance

Padre Sebastiano Resta (L. 2992).
John, Lord Somers (L. 2981).
J. Richardson, Sen. (L. 2184), his mount with associated shelfmarks 'P. 19... No. 43. Zt 21. Zt.' and attribution 'This Dr: in my Ld. Somers's collection stood Thus ascrib'd, but I believe 'tis of Rubens'.
J. van Rijmsdijk (L. 2167).
with Colnaghi, London, Exhibition of Old Master Drawings, 1952, no. 16, where acquired by Michael Jaffé.

Literature

Lansdowne MS. 802 [Resta-Somers], fol. 16v, as '[Annibale Carracci] A Woman's Head and Wings. P. 19'.
M. Jaffé, 'Rubens' Drawings at Antwerp', Burlington Magazine, XCVIII, 1956, p. 314, n. 5.
M. Jaffé, Jacob Jordaens 1593-1678, exhib. cat., Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1968-9, p. 165, under no. 159, pl. IV.
J. Wood, 'Padre Resta's Flemish Drawings. Van Diepenbeeck, Van Thulden, Rubens, and the School of Fontainebleau', Master Drawings, XXVIII, Spring 1990, p. 45, n. 20.

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Lot Essay

The attribution to Rubens of the present drawing has been broadly accepted by modern scholarship, although the inscription in Richardson's hand on the verso of the mount, and the related entry in Lansdowne MS. 802, raises the prospect of an old attribution to Annibale Carracci. In such a hypothesis, the drawing may have been acquired by Rubens and minimally reworked around the profile, and it may then have passed to Padre Resta with a number of drawings from Rubens's own hand, including those for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp.

A copy of the present drawing, in red chalk, was also in Michael Jaffé's collection and was included in the Jordaens exhibition in Ottawa in 1968-9 (no. 159).

We are grateful to Jeremy Wood for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.

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