Isaac Major

John Thane (L.1544);
J. Barham (L.2823);
Prof. Einar Perman, Stockholm

Stockholm, National Museum, Dutch and Flemish Drawings in the Nationalmuseum and other Swedish Collections, 1953, no. 80 (as Flemish Master c.1600);
Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden, verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, 1962, cat. no. 135 (as Flemish Master, end of the 16th Century)

Japan paper has been added along the edges of the sheet, verso. Some staining around the margins of the recto. Light scattered foxing throughout the sheet, more visible in the upper right section of the sky. The medium is extremely fresh and the blue has retained its original vibrant colour (and is brighter and somewhat greener in colour than in the catalogue illustration). Overall image strong and powerful.
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.

This fine, poetic and beautifully preserved landscape is by the same hand as a coherent group of a dozen or so landscapes drawn with the brush in blue ink and wash, examples of which are at Yale, The Metropolitan Museum, New York, Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen.  These drawings were attributed to various artists, most frequently Jacob Savery, until Joaneath Spicer convincingly proposed that they are by Isaac Major, comparing them with Major's graphic work and noting their reliance on his probably teacher in Prague, Roelandt Savery.¹  In publishing the Yale drawings, Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann summarised Spicer's arguments, and endorsed her attribution to Major.¹  The entire group has also been more recently discussed in some depth by Freyda Spira, in the catalogue of the 2012 Metropolitan Museum exhibition, Dürer and Beyond.³

With their somewhat fantastical compositions and strikingly unusual blue coloration, these intriguing, large landscapes encapsulate the artistic originality and 'otherness' of the Prague court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II. 

^1. J. Spicer-Durham, "The Drawings of Roelandt Savery", PhD diss., Yale University, New Haven, 1979, pp. 78, 289-90, n. 42b 

^2. T. DaCosta Kaufmann, Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire 1540-1680, A selection from North American Collections, exhib. cat., Princeton/Washington/Pittsburgh 1982-3, pp. 178-179

^3. S. Alsteens and F. Spira, Dürer and Beyond, Central European Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1400-1700, exhib. cat., 2012, pp. 152-3, under no. 69