Eugène Delacroix
Studies after Rubens
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Eugène Delacroix
(Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798 - 1863 Paris)
Studies after Rubens
Graphite;
dated in graphite, lower right: 8bre- 4.
257 by 376 mm; 10⅛ by 14⅞ in.
Estate of the artist (L.838a);
with Jill Newhouse, New York,
where acquired
In this impressive sheet of studies, Delacroix copies various figures, and details of figures, taken from several different scenes within the celebrated series of ceiling paintings, executed by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in 1620-21 for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp. The paintings were destroyed in 1718, when lightning struck the church, but they had been recorded in prints drawings and paintings by various other artists. Delacroix most probably based his drawing on the woodcuts that Rubens himself commissioned from Christoffel Jegher (1596/7-1652/3), which he had made in order to disseminate his designs throughout Europe.
Most of the elements seen in this drawing are taken from Rubens's compositions of The Temptation of Christ and The Coronation of the Virgin, but Delacroix also included some motifs from elsewhere in the cycle. The drawing probably dates from around 1850.
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