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Lot Essay
A black-winged stilt is represented twice in vertical extended form, as if it hung up, and twice in horizontal positions, as if set down on a table. It is on a blank background, isolated from any context, which suggests that the drawing was intended more as a scientific record rather than as a purely decorative piece of art. The naturalism of its description is striking and the different textures, such as the blue-green and purple gloss on the bird’s wings and the vivid red of the legs, are drawn with great accuracy.
The drawing was traditionally attributed to Jan Weenix (1640-1719) and was exhibited as such in 1938 in Rotterdam and Brussels. It was chosen by Walter Bernt to represent Jan Weenix’s drawings in his seminal 1958 Niederländischen Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts (op. cit., no. 677). I.Q. van Regteren Altena, however, included it in his catalogue raisonné of Jacques de Gheyn II drawings (op. cit., no. 878) mentioning that the attribution to the artist had been endorsed by no less than Frits Lugt. He compared it to the album containing 22 signed and variously dated 1600-1604 watercolours on vellum showing flowers and small animals in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (van Regteren Altena, op. cit., nos. 909-930). The drawing was later subsequently included in the 1984-85 exhibition of de Gheyn’s drawings in Rotterdam and Washington. But although de Gheyn often shows the creatures he depicts in different positions on the same sheet (see, for example, the wonderful studies of a frog in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; op. cit., no. 888) the present drawing seems to differ from his other zoological works in its larger dimensions and a more painterly application of watercolour. De Gheyn’s drawings of animals often show the minute details associated with the miniaturist and often combine black chalk (or metalpoint) with watercolour. Moreover the paper used, which has a watermark of an eagle with splayed wings, can be dated to around 1634-37, that is a few years after Jacques de Gheyn’s death.
We thank Dr. Frans Laurentius for his help in dating the paper.
The drawing was traditionally attributed to Jan Weenix (1640-1719) and was exhibited as such in 1938 in Rotterdam and Brussels. It was chosen by Walter Bernt to represent Jan Weenix’s drawings in his seminal 1958 Niederländischen Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts (op. cit., no. 677). I.Q. van Regteren Altena, however, included it in his catalogue raisonné of Jacques de Gheyn II drawings (op. cit., no. 878) mentioning that the attribution to the artist had been endorsed by no less than Frits Lugt. He compared it to the album containing 22 signed and variously dated 1600-1604 watercolours on vellum showing flowers and small animals in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (van Regteren Altena, op. cit., nos. 909-930). The drawing was later subsequently included in the 1984-85 exhibition of de Gheyn’s drawings in Rotterdam and Washington. But although de Gheyn often shows the creatures he depicts in different positions on the same sheet (see, for example, the wonderful studies of a frog in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; op. cit., no. 888) the present drawing seems to differ from his other zoological works in its larger dimensions and a more painterly application of watercolour. De Gheyn’s drawings of animals often show the minute details associated with the miniaturist and often combine black chalk (or metalpoint) with watercolour. Moreover the paper used, which has a watermark of an eagle with splayed wings, can be dated to around 1634-37, that is a few years after Jacques de Gheyn’s death.
We thank Dr. Frans Laurentius for his help in dating the paper.