Maerten de Vos

August Christian Hauck, Rotterdam (1742-1801),

thence by descent to the present owner

This grand and impressive drawing could well have been made as a design for a tapestry. The central figure, who has been identified as Alexander the Great, stands imposingly, with female figures and children kneeling before him, apparently presenting him with lavish treasures. In the background is an impressive ancient city, parts of it seemingly still under contruction.

In terms of a more precise identification of the subject, although Alexander the Great certainly did receive much treasure during the course of his campaigns, it has not been possible to identify a particular episode that obviously corresponds with what De Vos has depicted here. An alternative is that this is actually some kind of Biblical subject, and Paul Taylor of the Warburg Institute has kindly informed us that if that is the case, he thinks the leading possibilities are The Israelites bringing their sacred vessels for the building of the Temple (1 Chronicles 29), or perhaps Cyrus returning the vessels taken from the First Temple in order to build the Second Temple (Ezra 1). Dr. Taylor does, however, point out that in neither of these stories are those giving the treasure specifically women and children, nor are the recipients military rulers. So perhaps the original suggestion of Alexander the Great remains the most likely solution.

De Vos spent some eight years in Italy, and may even have travelled there, in 1550, in the company of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. After his return to Antwerp, he was one of the most successful artists working in the city, receiving constant commissions for paintings, and for designs for prints and the decorative arts.

The drawing comes from the collection formed by the Rotterdam artist August Christian Hauck (1742-1801), and has remained until now in the posession of his descendants.

Subsequent to the publication of this catalogue, Olenka Horbatsch has kindly suggested that this drawing may belong to a series of studies by De Vos (four of which are currently known) which Karel Boon first proposed were made in connection with the temporary decorations, with subjects from the life of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), erected in honour of the triumphal entry of the Archduke Ernest of Austria into Antwerp, on 14 June 1594.  

No episode in the story of Charles V that corresponds to the scene depicted here has so far been identified, but the type of subject, and the scale and format of the drawing, which, like the others, is executed on two joined sheets of paper, is comparable.

The other drawings in question are now in Brussels, Berlin, London and Amsterdam.¹ For a full discussion of these drawings, see Yvonne Bleyerveld’s comprehensive recent entry on the Brussels drawing in: De Bruegel à Rubens, Dessins de Maîtres issus des collections des Musées Royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique, exh. cat., Brussels, Musées Royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique, 2024-25, cat. 38.  

¹ a) Charles V defeating the Turks before Vienna, in 1529, Brussels, Musées Royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique, inv. 4060/3930. 294 x 426 mm

b) The Turkish Sultan Mulay Hassan petitioning Charles V at Brussels, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, Bock-Rosenberg no. 13580, 265 x 423 mm

c) The Elector of Saxony Surrendering to Charles V in 1547, London, British Museum, inv. 1938,1210.3, 269 x 558 mm

d) A prince Surrendering to Charles V, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. RP-T-1905-111, 265 x 432 mm