Circle of Adam Elsheimer

Both sold in elaborate wooden, gilded frames, both laid down on wood. There is some slight abrasion to the edges of each drawing, causing a loss of the gold border in some areas. The martyrdom of Saint Paul has some slight cracking to the surface of the upper right corner, and Saint Peter has a very small water-type stain to the right of the upper edge. The latter also has some slight surface dirt at the upper left. Otherwise both are in good condition, and the gouache is still very strong and fresh.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The traditional attribution of these very fine gouaches to Callot is unsustainable, and nor are they based on any known prints by that artist.  Another more recent suggestion is that they might be by a Strasburg artist such as Johann Wilhelm Baur (1607-1641), but that would seem to place them slightly too late in date.

In fact, the strongest influence that is evident here - not only in terms of the scale and type of the compositions but also in the actual details of the handling - is that of Adam Elsheimer.  The intensely refined, immensely detailed and yet spectacularly animated small paintings that Elsheimer made in Rome in the decade prior to his early death in 1610 had a profound influence on many of the artists with whom he came into contact, both Italian and Northern in origin.  Of the latter, the most familiar are the so-called Pre-Rembrandtists - Moeyaert, Tengnagel and the Pynas brothers - who were influential in transporting this new style back to the Netherlands, but Leonaert Bramer also made a few highly refined small paintings on copper in a manner strongly reminiscent of Elsheimer's.¹ Indeed, the details of the facial and figural types in these gouaches are not dissimilar to those seen in Bramer's drawings, and were it not for the fact that no gouaches by the artist are known, and that the level of refinement seen here is dramatically greater than in any of the artist's many surviving drawings, then one might almost be tempted to suggest that they were by him.  

In any case, it does seem extremely likely that these highly distinctive and accomplished gouaches were made by a Northern artist working in Rome just after 1600, who saw and was deeply impressed by the paintings of Adam Elsheimer.

1. Examples are in Dijon and Delft; see The Genius of Rome 1592-1623, exh. cat., London, Royal Academy, and Rome, Palazzo Venezia, 2001, cat. nos. 65-7