* Jan Boeckhorst Münster or Rees circa 1604 - 1668 Antwerp

Heinrich Beckmann (L.2756a)

This composition is similar in conception to a painting by Boeckhorst representing Geometry, now in Bonn (Rheinisches Landesmuseum; see Jan Boeckhorst 1604-1668, Maler der Rubenszeit, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, Rubenshuis, and Münster, Westfälisches Landesmuseum, 1990, cat. no. 33).  The Bonn painting is one of four canvases that are known from a series representing the Seven Liberal Arts, which also served as the basis for a set of tapestries (an example is at Cawdor Castle).  It is very possible that the present drawing, which shows the allegorical female figure contemplating a celestial globe supported by putti, relates in some way to this series of designs.