Studio of Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Unframed. Laid down. Overall there is slight foxing, some surface dirt and light brown spot stains with 3 somehwat more noticeable stains on body of right-hand child. The chalk and ink, however, are still strong.
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.

This drawing relates to a drawing and series of paintings by Rubens, which were inspired by a group of figures in the colossal antique Roman sculpture, the River Tiber, now in the Louvre.  Dating from imperial times, the sculpture decorated the Temple of Isis and Serapis on the Campus Martius in Rome.  It was excavated in 1512 near San Stefano del Cacco and was used as a fountain in the Belvedere Statue Court in 1513.¹ 

The group in its entirity was copied by many artists, but Rubens' study, in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, focuses only on the detail of the She-wolf with Romulus and Remus.  It was also unusual for faithfully depicting the damage that the figures had suffered, such as the infants' missing heads, and thereby recorded the state of the sculpture prior to its full restoration in the 18th century.  Furthermore, Rubens removed the figures from their original context and placed them in a landscape, as suggested by the reeds behind the wolf and the undulating lines before the twins which indicate a river.² 

Rubens used the group in several paintings, for example the Romulus and Remus on deposit at the Länsmuseum, Linköping, Sweden, in which he reversed the position of the twins.  The same is true of his painting of the subject in the Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome, although the infants' heads and limbs are painted in different positions.³  The present drawing, which must be either a copy of a lost design by Rubens or a studio variant on the motif, is closest to two seated putti adapted from the group in the master's Virgin adorned with flowers in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein.⁴  In both we see the children pass a flower between them, and the suggestion of drapery underneath their legs, although in this painting the wolf is, of course, absent. 

1. M. van der Meulen, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, part XXIII, Rubens copies after the antique, vol. II, London 1994, p. 107, under cat. no. 98, vol. III, figs. 169, 174

2. Op.cit., vol. III, fig. 168  

3. See M. Jaffé, Rubens Catalogo Completo, Milan 1989, respectively p.  181, cat. no. 176 and p. 214, cat. no. 347

4. J. Kräftner et.al., Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640, The Masterpieces from the Viennese Collections, Vienna 2004, pp. 54-5, cat. no. 8