Netherlandish School circa 1500

Van Parijs (L.2531, with number, partially abraded, 607 or 697), possibly sale, Brussels, Le Roy, 14-15 April 1861, lot 607 ("Memling (Ecole) - Etude de personnage; plume")

Laid down (before the Van Parijs mark was put on the drawing). Various creases and tears, particularly left side and at edges. Numerous light stains throughout. Nonetheless still readily legible.
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Secure attributions are relatively few and far between in the field of Netherlandish drawings dating from the period around 1500.  This expressive study comes closest, perhaps, to a group of works by one (or perhaps more than one) glass designer working in the orbit of Hugo van der Goes, a group brought together by A.E. Popham under the name "The Master of the Story of Tobit"¹. The most comparable drawings given to this artist are at Windsor and Weimar.²

1. A.E. Popham, 'Notes on Flemish domestic glass painting,' Apollo, VII (1928), p. 178
2. Respectively, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, inv. RL 12952, (see C. White and C. Crawley, The Dutch and Flemish drawings at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1994, cat. no. 2), and Weimar, Schlossmuseum, inv. KK 4627.