Circle of Jan Massys

Vincent van Gogh, his sale, Amsterdam, R.W.P. de Vries, 2-3 December 1913, lot 152;
sale, Paris, Drouot, 24 June 1921, lot 330

Narrow added strips of paper down both sides. Paper thin in all four corners. Some staining top centre and lower right, a little surface dirt throughout, but otherwise reasonably good and fresh.
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The composition of this drawing derives from Massys' signed and dated panel of 1565, in Basel, from which it differs only in some minor background details.¹ Both the style and the materials seem approximately consistent with the date of the original, so it is possible that the drawing was actually made in Massys' studio, as a ricordo that could be used as the basis for any subsequent versions of the painting.  The fact that the drawing is squared suggests that it was indeed put to such a use, although no other paintings with this composition are known today.  Preparatory drawings by artists from this Antwerp milieu are extremely rare, and while the present sheet certainly cannot be considered a study for the Basel painting, the free treatment of the background in particular makes it an interesting document of how such paintings were recorded, interpreted and reworked by artists in the orbit of Massys.  

1.  M. J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. XIII, Leyden/Brussels 1975, 77, cat. 42, reproduced plate 21