Jan Swart van Groningen Groningen circa 1495 - after 1553 Antwerp

Bernard Houthakker (L.1272, with the remains of his mount)
His sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 17-18 November 1975, lot 8

Though few paintings by his hand are known, Jan Swart was a prolific draughtsman and designer of stained glass panels and woodcuts.  His early work reflects the influence of Dirk Vellert and Pieter Coecke van Aelst, as well as Jan van Scorel, and his compositions also betray a knowledge of the prints of Marcantonio Raimondi.  Stylistically the present drawing is a typical example of his work, with its massive but carefully outlined figures, distinctive facial types, and more freely drawn background.  The subject remains, however, somewhat obscure, and the drawing was probably made as part of a series illustrating an Old Testament story, which included minor episodes, described only very cursorily in the biblical text in question.  Compositionally, the drawing closely resembles two others by the artist showing scenes from the life of Joseph, one, now cut down to half its presumed former size, in Berlin (see E. Bock and J. Rosenberg, Die Zeichnungen niederländischer Meister im Kupferstichkabinett zu Berlin, Berlin 1930, p. 52, no. 9202), the other formerly together with this sheet in the Houthakker collection (lot 7 in the 1975 sale).  But it is nonetheless hard to find any moment in the story of Joseph which this drawing could reasonably be thought to illustrate.