Attributed to Jacques de Gheyn III

Probably Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel;
Antonio Maria Zanetti, (L.2992f; his inscription on reverse of the mount: Di Lionardo / da / Vinci / 21 Ducati);
T. Rosy;
Prince Belosselsky;
sale, London, Robinson and Fisher, 28 April 1921, lot 169;
gift of Mr Meatyard in 1921

A.E. Popham, 'Wencelas Hollar,' Old Master Drawings, vol. II, no. 6, September 1927, pp. 29-30;
I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Jacques de Gheyn, an introduction to the study of his drawings, Amsterdam 1936, pp. 97-9
I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Jacques de Gheyn, Three Generations, The Hague 1983, 3 vols, vol. II, p. 181, no. 15, vol. III, reproduced p. 278, pl. 15

Laid down. Some yellow staining in the centre on the sheet. There are small creases along the upper margin. The intricate and delicate use of silverpoint is still strong and visible despite the staining.
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One of four closely comparable silverpoint drawings depicting flayed parts of a dead horse, this drawing is part of a wider group of some seventeen known studies, mostly numbered, that appear to originate from one or more sketchbooks by the same artist.  The identity of this artist has been much debated, but can be narrowed down thanks to the topographical range of the subjects depicted, which include motifs from England, Germany, and both the northern and southern Netherlands.  A.E. Popham advocated an attribution to Wenzel Hollar, but I.Q. van Regteren Altena believed the drawings were probably by Jacques de Gheyn III, a conclusion that is supported by An van Camp, one of the authors of the catalogue of the wonderful 2015 exhibition on metalpoint drawings held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the British Museum, who is preparing an article in which she will publish further recent research on this fascinating group of drawings.¹

The three other studies of flayed horses in the so-called ‘Silverpoint sketchbook,’ two of which are in the Louvre and one in the British Museum, are numbered 45, 46 and 47 in the upper right corner and a fourth sheet of the same dimensions, showing tack and other paraphernalia relating to horses, also in the Louvre, is numbered 49,² so it is extremely tempting to conclude that the more or less illegible numbering on the Oppé drawing is actually 48. 

One thing that marks this drawing out from the others in the group is, however, its provenance.  On the reverse is an inscription in the hand of Antonio Maria Zanetti, who is known to have bought a number of drawings formerly in the collection of the Earl of Arundel in 1725. 

^1. Drawing in Silver and Gold, Leonardo to Jasper Johns, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, and London, The British Museum, 2015, pp. 153-4, 161 n. 27

^2. Van Regteren Altena, op. cit., 1983, nos. S 14, S 12, S 13 and S 16, respectively