Pen and black ink, watercolour and gouache, on top of a graphite sketch
Provenance: private collection
At the end of the XVIth century, certain draughtsmen applied their talents to the exploration...
read morePen and black ink, watercolour and gouache, on top of a graphite sketch
Provenance: private collection
At the end of the XVIth century, certain draughtsmen applied their talents to the exploration and analysis of the natural world and made studies from the collections of naturalia in the possession of universities. The surviving drawings confirm that the artists respected the principles of scientific illustration, although certain watercolours show various specimens clearly selected and arranged more for aesthetic reasons than out of any concern for taxonomic coherence or scientific rigour.
On top of a preliminary sketch in graphite, the author of these two small studies alternates strokes in pen and brush in order to differentiate the anatomical components of the various insects: a delicate stippling captures the transparency of the wings while vigorously drawn short parallel lines render the velvety texture of the thorax and legs or the blackness of the protruding eyes. The arrangements of specimens depicted on these two pages are dominated by an enormous scarab and an imposing frog respectively. The other specimens include various species of coleoptera, hymenoptera, diptera, odonata and heteroptera.
These two sheets display not only the artist's extraordinary skill in naturalistic description but also reveal a delicacy, a subtlety that goes well beyond mere illustration. At present, the author of these two pages remains unidentified, however the artist was probably German by birth and training, judging from the similarities with the plates by Joris Hoefnagel (1542 Antwerp - Vienna 1600), Jacques de Gheyn the Younger (1565 Antwerp - The Hague 1629) and those, dating from a somewhat later period, by Anthony Henstenburg (1695 - Hoorn - 1781).
16th Century
In this elegant double portrait, a married couple is presented together, slightlystaggered within the pictorial space: the man is positioned somewhat in front as if to form a...
read more16th Century
In this elegant double portrait, a married couple is presented together, slightlystaggered within the pictorial space: the man is positioned somewhat in front as if to form a protective screen, and according to the conventions of heraldry, he is located on the left-hand side of the painting, placing him to the right of his wife within the scene depicted. The figures are shown in a 3/4 view, from the waist up, in accordance with the most prevalent formula for portraits at the beginning of the XVIth century.
In addition to affording the opportunity for a thorough physical description, this view also allows the representational conventions of the medieval age to be maintained, the frontal view being reserved for images of the divine, such as the Salvator Mundi, the Ecce Homo or depictions of the Holy Trinity.
Thus, the most strikingly original aspect of this work is the arrangement of the two figures within a single pictorial space.
As for the draughtsmanship, which is both incisive and elegant, the choice of colors, which stand out boldly against the abstract black ground, and the handling of decorative detail (from the hairs of the man’s beard to the fine embroidery on his wife's bonnet), all of these elements serve to lend a specific charm to this picture, solidly identifying the painter as one of the most accomplished portraitists of the German school in the first quarter of the XVIth century.
