A group of figures and livestock on a ferry

A preparatory study for a painting of 1667 in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, for which two other drawings are known: one is a compositional study in grey wash in Darmstadt (W.W. Robinson, 'Preparatory Drawings by Adriaen van de Velde', Master Drawings, 17 (1979), no. B10); and the other is a red-chalk nude study of the boy playing the flute at one end of the ferry, in the British Museum (inv. 1871,1209.6322; W.W. Robinson, 'Some Studies of Nude Models by Adriaen van de Velde', Donum Amicorum: Essays in Honour of Per Bjurström, Stockholm, 1993, p. 57). The present drawing represents a more highly-finished stage in the compositional process than the study in Darmstadt, although there are still significant differences between the present drawing and the composition of the finished painting.

We are very grateful to William W. Robinson for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.