Study of a hand

This sheet can be closely compared to the hand study at upper right in plate 52 of Bloemaert's Tekenboek (Drawing Book), first published in the 1650s, but most complete in an edition from 1740 (fig. 1; M. Roethlisberger, Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons. Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk, 1993, I, pp. 389-420). Bloemaert's famous model drawing book, containing the artist’s studies engraved by his son Frederick, was widely circulated and greatly influential throughout the 18th Century.

Fig. 1. Frederick Bloemaert, after Abraham Bloemaert, Studies of hands. Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam.