Jan Wierix

Emperor Rudolf II (?);
Adalbert Freiherr von Lanna (L.2773),
his sale, Stuttgart, Gutekunst, 6-11 May 1910, part of lot 596;
Tony Straus-Negbaur (L.2459a),
her sale, Berlin, Cassirer, 25-26 November 1930, lot 108 ('Gottvater über den Wassern');
with Katrin Bellinger, London (Nine Drawings from the Creation and the Early History of Man, 1993, no. 3), from whom bought by the present owner

U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig 1907-50, vol. 35, p. 538;
F. Lugt, Les Marques de collection de dessins et d'estampes. Supplément, The Hague 1956, p. 356, under no. 2459a;
C. van de Velde, Jan Wierix. The Creation and Early History of Man, 1607-1608, London 1990, p. 7, no. 2a

Sold in a simple dark stained wood stain. Window mounted on japan paper. There are very small pin holes in each corner. A very tiny light brown stain at the centre of the upper left quarter of the sheet, visible only on the verso and not on the recto. Two very small light grey stains at the centre of the lower edge, on the border of the drawing. Otherwise the drawing is in excellent condition, slightly lighter than the catalogue illustration.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This drawing belongs to a series illustrating The Creation and Early History of Man, which must originally have consisted of 21 sheets.  Although drawn in a very precise manner reminiscent of engravings, the use of the vellum support suggests that they were in fact made not as preparatory studies for prints, but as works in their own right.  Indeed, according to the catalogue of the Lanna sale (see Provenance), the drawings were at that time accompanied by an inscription, in French, indicating that they had been made for the Emperor Rudolf II.  No extant inventory of the Emperor's collections mentions any such set of drawings by Wierix, although one is listed in a 1659 inventory of the collection of one of his descendants, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria.

A total of three versions of this series is known.  The earliest of the three, to which this drawing belongs, must already have been partially dispersed by 1835, when six of the drawings were acquired by the Berlin printroom, with the collection of Karl Ferdinand von Nagler.  In 1910, however, thirteen of the drawings appeared, as a single lot, in the Lanna sale, and they remained together until they were sold individually twenty years later in the Straus-Negbaur sale.  The British Museum owns a second, almost complete set of The Creation and the Early History of Man, consisting of 19 drawings (missing only the title-page and the drawing of The Tower of Babel); two of these drawings are dated 1606.  Van de Velde (loc.cit.) has offered convincing stylistic arguments for dating the Berlin drawings (and therefore the present sheet) slightly earlier than those in the British Museum.  The third and last set dates from 1607/8, and lacks only the title-page; it was exhibited by Richard Feigen in New York in 1990, the occasion of Van de Velde's publication.  Although the drawings in the three series represent the same subjects, the compositions are in many cases somewhat different.