Old Master Drawings

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Lot 17
  • 17

Josias Murer

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 USD
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Description

  • Josias Murer
  • the arms of Zürich below those of the Holy Roman Empire, flanked by a standard bearer and halberdier, with Samson wrestling the lion above
  • Pen and black and brown ink and brown wash; vertical and horizontal folds;
    bears old attribution in brown ink, lower right: Rubens 

Provenance

I.O. Wessner (L.2562a);
sale, Zürich, Messikommer, 20-22 November 1922, lot 442, where purchased

Literature

F. Thöne, Daniel Lindtmayer 1552-1606/7, Zürich/Munich 1975, p. 269, under cat. 545

Condition

Unframed. Laid down. Traces of horizontal and vertical folds across centre. Minor losses, top right corner and right and left edges. A few small brown stains, surface somewhat dirty but ink still good 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.

Catalogue Note

The drawing belongs to a series of similarly composed works, with the arms and banners of the different Cantons, of which several others also bear an attribution to Rubens.  One, representing Canton Zug, is in Edinburgh where it is listed, at the suggestion of Dr. Jenny Schneider, under the name of Werner Kübler the Younger.1  These seminal designs seem to have been both copied and repeated with variations by several different artists, which considerably complicates the process of their attribution.

Thöne proposed that the present drawing should be given to Josias Murer, on the basis of comparison with glass panels signed by the artist and dated 1608, after some of the designs in the series (fig.1).2 Another unsigned glass panel after the design for the Canton of Lucerne, in the Schlossmuseum, Weimar, is dated 1605 and the drawings from the series must have been made at around that time or very slightly earlier.3 See also lots 31 and 34.

1. National Gallery of Scotland, inv. no. D 4834; see K. Andrews, Catalogue of German Drawings in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh 1991, p. 11, reproduced fig. 45.

2. See J. Schneider, Glasgemelde, Katalog der Sammlung des Schweizerischen Landesmuseum Zürich, 2 vols., Zürich 1970, vol, II, cat. nos. 479-482

3. See Thöne, loc.cit.