Anthony van Dyck
1599-1641
Study for the Dead Christ
ca. 1635-1640
10 13/14 x 15 1/2 inches (275 x 393 mm)
Black chalk, with white chalk and smudging, on blue laid paper.
I, 243
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
Watermark: none.
The drawing is a study for the painting of the Entombment presented to the monastery of the Friars Minor or Recollects of the Franciscan Order in Antwerp now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.
This is a figure study for a painting of the Lamentation of Christ (ca. 1635-40), now at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Here, van Dyck revisited a method he had practiced in Rubens's studio to enhance the realistic depiction of key figures in compositions: drawing from the nude model. His approach to the human form differs, however, from that of Rubens. Van Dyck appears to have been more interested in rendering light on flesh than in creating the illusion of a robust, three-dimensional body. As a result, the body of van Dyck's figure is appropriately lifeless, and the light reflections created by the white chalk are hauntingly realistic. -- Exhibition Label, from "Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens"
The drawing is a study for the painting of the Entombment presented to the monastery of the Friars Minor or Recollects of the Franciscan Order in Antwerp now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.
This is a figure study for a painting of the Lamentation of Christ (ca. 1635-40), now at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Here, van Dyck revisited a method he had practiced in Rubens's studio to enhance the realistic depiction of key figures in compositions: drawing from the nude model. His approach to the human form differs, however, from that of Rubens. Van Dyck appears to have been more interested in rendering light on flesh than in creating the illusion of a robust, three-dimensional body. As a result, the body of van Dyck's figure is appropriately lifeless, and the light reflections created by the white chalk are hauntingly realistic. -- Exhibition Label, from "Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens"
Associated names
Huls, Samuel van, 1655-1734, former owner.
Ottley, William Young, 1771-1836, former owner.
Reid, George William, 1819-1887, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Ottley, William Young, 1771-1836, former owner.
Reid, George William, 1819-1887, 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. 11 (repr.)
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 243.
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. 125, no. 273, repr.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 53, repr. [Achim Riether]
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 243.
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. 125, no. 273, repr.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 53, repr. [Achim Riether]
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