Studio of Sir Peter Paul Rubens

With Leonard Koetser Gallery, London, 1967-1970;
Sir John Rankin, London;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 July 1980, lot 110.

B. Nicolson, "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions," in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CIX, May 1967, p. 321 (referring to M. Jaffé's dating on the present picture to 1612-15);
Art News, vol. 66, September 1967, p. 19, reproduced;
H.E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, I, The Religious Paintings, London 1969, pp. 89-90, under no. 36, copies, no. 4 (as "a free copy by Rubens");
M. Jaffé, Rubens, Catalogo Completo, Milan 1989, p. 173, cat. no. 129, reproduced (as Rubens);
J. Wood, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XXVI:  Copies and Adaptations From Renaissance and Later Artists, London/Turnhout 2010, vol. I:  Italian Artists; II. Titian and Northern Italian Art, p. 440, no. R23 (as After Titian, by a Flemish artist).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting on panel is not reinforced on the reverse. However, it may have been reinforced in the past and small oblong wooden inserts have been applied here and there on the reverse to reinforce weak areas. The panel is made from 4 pieces of oak joined horizontally. The first join runs through the heads of the figures, the second through the waist of Christ, and the third runs through his left heel. The panel is slightly curved from top to bottom. At present there is facing paper applied in a horizontal band through Christ's head and other smallerpieces of facing paper applied across the bottom edge. Under ultraviolet light one can see that the three original joins have received a small amount of restoration. The white sheet that partially covers Christ, and some thinness in his stomach and legs has been retouched. There are other less numerous restorations in a few other isolated spots. These large oil sketches are meant to be quite brushy and thin. This thinness is visible in the upper torso of Christ and in his right arm. Once the small amount of instability is resolved beneath the facing paper, if the restoration that exists now can be retained, then only a few other retouches will be required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This large scale oil sketch is a copy after Titian's Entombment, a version of which is now extant in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, (inv. no. 749).  Sir Peter Paul Rubens is known to have drawn considerable inspiration from the study of Venetian painting during his various sojourns in Italy and Spain and scores of his copies after Titian's spectacularly inventive compositions survive today.¹  Rubens first travelled to Italy in 1600 where he remained under the employment of Vincenzo Gonzaga I, Duke of Mantua, until 1608.  Though Rubens was retained chiefly for the completion of portraits of the ducal family, Vincenzo I was at this time engaged in battle in Croatia, leaving the artist free to realise commissions for other patrons while capitalizing on his access to the famed Gonzaga collection, copying a large number of the paintings preserved there.  In fact, in addition to the Louvre canvas, another version of Titian's composition, thought to be identical, is known to have belonged to the Duke of Mantua by 1629.²  Given Rubens' presence at the Gonzaga court at the turn of the seventeenth century lends credence to the suggestion that the present painting was copied after the Mantuan version during Rubens' employment there. The present work was considered to be one of Rubens' many copies after Titian until recently (see J. Wood under Literature) though his studio is also known to have continued the practice of repeating Venetian compositions.  The influence of this exposure to Titian's oeuvre is patent in the Flemish artist's work from this period onward, with Rubens' assimilating the Italian's grand sense of space, startling chromatic contrasts and dramatic use of light.  

Of considerable interest in the present panel is the exposed underdrawing, visible to the naked eye, which appears to correspond to an entirely separate composition.  Most prominent is the sketch for a raised hand which appears through the painted flesh above Christ's bended knees, the linear structure apparent in his ribs and the parallel zigzagging lines revealed in the Magdalene's sleeve.

In a letter dated 7 February 1989, Michael Jaffé writes in support of a full attribution to Sir Peter Paul Rubens, dating this work to circa 1610-1615.  He suggested Rubens was likely to have copied the Titian composition in a drawing or watercolour while in Mantua, later executing this oil sketch, which then remained unfinished, after his return to Antwerp. 

1.  For an extensive list see the Corpus Rubenianum, part XXVI, J. Wood, Copies and Adaptations from Renaissance and Later Artists, Italian Artists, II. Titian and North Italian Art, vol. I and II, London and Turnhout 2010.
2.  P. Humphrey, Titian, The Complete Paintings, London 2007, pp.112-113, cat. no. 64, reproduced p.112.