Denys Calvaert

Edmund P. Pillsbury (1943-2010);
sale, New York, Sotheby's, 26 January 2005, lot 86

Although this very beautiful and impressive drawing has not yet been connected to a surviving painting, the attribution to Calvaert was proposed in the past by both Konrad Oberhuber and Sir Timothy Clifford.  Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616-1693) wrote that Calvaert was admired for his use of red chalk, strikingly employed here, while the white heightening, which adds energy to the composition, is familiar from other compositional drawings.  The slightly Northern figure types and the mannerist design of the lectern are also characteristic.