Jacob Jordaens
1593-1678
Kent u selven (Allegory of Vanity)
ca. 1650
9 11/16 x 10 15/16 inches (246 x 277 mm)
Black chalk, watercolor, white opaque watercolor, pen and brown ink and wash, inscribed with stylus or transfer on laid paper, adhered on decorative mount.
I, 237
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
Watermark: none.
The young woman is presented with a choice: look in a mirror held up by a jester or contemplate a skull in the hands of an old man. Because she is running a comb through her hair and seems untroubled by the presence of the powerful symbol of mortality, she seems to have decided. This depiction of the proverb "Kent u selven" (Know yourself) is a design for an engraving attributed to Jacob Neefs. -- Exhibition Label, from "Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens"
The young woman is presented with a choice: look in a mirror held up by a jester or contemplate a skull in the hands of an old man. Because she is running a comb through her hair and seems untroubled by the presence of the powerful symbol of mortality, she seems to have decided. This depiction of the proverb "Kent u selven" (Know yourself) is a design for an engraving attributed to Jacob Neefs. -- Exhibition Label, from "Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens"
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed on old blue mount at lower right, in brown ink, "Jordaens", and in graphite, "120"; at upper left, in graphite, "1543". On verso of old mount, at lower right, in three different hands, in graphite, "A true Drawing. W / very fine. M / Do Ph"; below, in another hand, in graphite, "Jordaens from Calonnes Sale / 3. 13. 6"; above, in Farifax Murray's hand, in graphite, "Engraved-the print is / with Plantin Moretus / No. 13" at upper right, in graphite, "44".
Associated names
Hazard, James, former owner.
Calonne, Charles Alexandre de, 1734-1802, former owner.
Palmerston, Henry Temple, Viscount, 1739-1802, former owner.
Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Viscount, 1784-1865, former owner.
Mount Temple, William Francis Cowper-Temple, Baron, 1811-1888, former owner.
Ashley, Evelyn, 1836-1907, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Calonne, Charles Alexandre de, 1734-1802, former owner.
Palmerston, Henry Temple, Viscount, 1739-1802, former owner.
Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Viscount, 1784-1865, former owner.
Mount Temple, William Francis Cowper-Temple, Baron, 1811-1888, former owner.
Ashley, Evelyn, 1836-1907, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
Tuinen, Ilona van. Power and Grace : Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, 2018, no. 14 (repr.)
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 237.
Stampfle, Felice, with the assistance of Ruth S. Kraemer and Jane Shoaf Turner. Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries and Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1991, p. 131, no. 284, repr.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 237.
Stampfle, Felice, with the assistance of Ruth S. Kraemer and Jane Shoaf Turner. Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries and Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1991, p. 131, no. 284, repr.
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