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Sir Peter Paul Rubens
bidding is closed
Description
Sir Peter Paul Rubens
1577-1640
the last supper
Pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, over traces of black chalk. Indented for transfer.
300 by 195mm.
Provenance:
G. Huquier, sale, Amsterdam, Yver, 14 September 1761 et seqq., lot 554;
Gerardus Schroder, sale, Amsterdam, 20 February 1764 et seqq., lot 210, bought by Yver;
Prince de Rubempre, Brussels, sale, Paris, Prault, 1-6 July 1765, lot 253, bought by Basan;
Tournier, sale, Paris, F.C. Joullain & Sons, 14 April 1773 et seqq., lot 191;
Jhr. J. Goll van Franckenstein, Jr. (L.2987, his numbering N4050, verso);
E.J. Reynolds (L.900b);
With C.G. Boerner, Dusseldorf (exh., Hundert Zeichnungen, 1969, cat.80, illus.).
Literature:
J. Muller Hofstede, 'Two Unpublished Drawings by Rubens'' Master Drawings, xii, 1974, pp.133-135, pl.5;
J. Richard Judson and Carl van de Velde, Book Illustrations and Title-Pages, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XXI, London 1978, vol.i, pp.141-2, cat.26a, illus. vol.ii, pl.90.
Rubens had a long and fruitful association with the publisher Balthasar Moretus, and this collaboration was extremely important in the transformation that the art of book illustration underwent in the Low Countries in the early 17th century. Although they had already known each other for some time before, their professional association began in 1608, continuing for many years thereafter. Because of the great and various demands on his time, it seems that Rubens generally insisted on being given commissions for illustrations no less than six months in advance, so that he could work on them exclusively on Sundays and religious holidays (see Judson and Van de Velde, op. cit., vol.i, p.27).
Moretus' predecessors at the Plantin Press had last published a Roman Catholic Breviary in 1577, and in around 1610 the publisher decided it was necessary for this work to be updated. He therefore commissioned Rubens to design a title page and ten illustrations, eight of the latter to be entirely new compositions. The present drawing is the preparatory study for Theodor Galle's engraving, in reverse, for this Breviarum Romanum, which eventually appeared in 1614. Judson and van de Velde have dated the drawing to late in 1613 (loc.cit.).
As in all aspects of his artistic career, Rubens sought to ensure that his print designs were executed exactly as he envisaged them, so he provided his printmakers with detailed drawings showing all the elements of the composition: compared with the final print, only the halo is here left out. The drawing also illustrates Rubens' mastery of his medium. Addressing the problem of how to depict this traditionally planar and horizontal subject in a vertical format, he has arrived at a typically original and inspired solution: he has placed the figure of Christ not in the middle of the group, but to one side, which allows the group of figures to recede from the viewer without Christ being relegated to the background. As a result, the Last Supper conveys a remarkable sense of space. The weighty figures are clustered around the table in a bay in a high ceilinged room, yet they almost seem to break into the viewer's space. Finally, the whole composition is tied together with a highly sophisticated scheme of lighting, the subtle heightening on the glowing lamps and on the apostles' shoulders and backs serving to link the various elements and create a great sense of balance.
1577-1640
the last supper
Pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, over traces of black chalk. Indented for transfer.
300 by 195mm.
Provenance:
G. Huquier, sale, Amsterdam, Yver, 14 September 1761 et seqq., lot 554;
Gerardus Schroder, sale, Amsterdam, 20 February 1764 et seqq., lot 210, bought by Yver;
Prince de Rubempre, Brussels, sale, Paris, Prault, 1-6 July 1765, lot 253, bought by Basan;
Tournier, sale, Paris, F.C. Joullain & Sons, 14 April 1773 et seqq., lot 191;
Jhr. J. Goll van Franckenstein, Jr. (L.2987, his numbering N4050, verso);
E.J. Reynolds (L.900b);
With C.G. Boerner, Dusseldorf (exh., Hundert Zeichnungen, 1969, cat.80, illus.).
Literature:
J. Muller Hofstede, 'Two Unpublished Drawings by Rubens'' Master Drawings, xii, 1974, pp.133-135, pl.5;
J. Richard Judson and Carl van de Velde, Book Illustrations and Title-Pages, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XXI, London 1978, vol.i, pp.141-2, cat.26a, illus. vol.ii, pl.90.
Rubens had a long and fruitful association with the publisher Balthasar Moretus, and this collaboration was extremely important in the transformation that the art of book illustration underwent in the Low Countries in the early 17th century. Although they had already known each other for some time before, their professional association began in 1608, continuing for many years thereafter. Because of the great and various demands on his time, it seems that Rubens generally insisted on being given commissions for illustrations no less than six months in advance, so that he could work on them exclusively on Sundays and religious holidays (see Judson and Van de Velde, op. cit., vol.i, p.27).
Moretus' predecessors at the Plantin Press had last published a Roman Catholic Breviary in 1577, and in around 1610 the publisher decided it was necessary for this work to be updated. He therefore commissioned Rubens to design a title page and ten illustrations, eight of the latter to be entirely new compositions. The present drawing is the preparatory study for Theodor Galle's engraving, in reverse, for this Breviarum Romanum, which eventually appeared in 1614. Judson and van de Velde have dated the drawing to late in 1613 (loc.cit.).
As in all aspects of his artistic career, Rubens sought to ensure that his print designs were executed exactly as he envisaged them, so he provided his printmakers with detailed drawings showing all the elements of the composition: compared with the final print, only the halo is here left out. The drawing also illustrates Rubens' mastery of his medium. Addressing the problem of how to depict this traditionally planar and horizontal subject in a vertical format, he has arrived at a typically original and inspired solution: he has placed the figure of Christ not in the middle of the group, but to one side, which allows the group of figures to recede from the viewer without Christ being relegated to the background. As a result, the Last Supper conveys a remarkable sense of space. The weighty figures are clustered around the table in a bay in a high ceilinged room, yet they almost seem to break into the viewer's space. Finally, the whole composition is tied together with a highly sophisticated scheme of lighting, the subtle heightening on the glowing lamps and on the apostles' shoulders and backs serving to link the various elements and create a great sense of balance.