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Pearl diving
Maker
(artist)
1523-1605
1523-1605
Title
Pearl diving
Date of Production
(circa) 1596
Medium
pen and brown ink, brown wash, white bodycolour (used as a corrective, now partly oxidised) on laid paper, with brown ink framing lines, pinholes in both bottom corners
Dimensions
Height: 19.5 cm
Width: 27.3 cm
Width: 27.3 cm
Accession Number
D.1952.RW.1633
Mode of Acquisition
Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Copyright
Work in the public domain
Location
Not currently on display
Keywords
Label Text
This highly detailed study was made in preparation for a print, published in Antwerp in 1596. It shows men diving for pearls in the Persian Gulf. Fishermen are lowered to the ocean’s floor from rowing boats to search for oysters. Others are shown bringing their finds to shore to be evaluated.
The inscription in the lower margin commemorates the expedition of the Venetian merchant Gasparo Balbi to study local methods of pearl fishing in Persia in 1580. Although the print’s original viewers likely believed it was an accurate representation of a foreign culture, Stradanus himself never left Europe and his depiction of the pearl divers is based on Balbi’s account rather than first-hand knowledge.
The inscription in the lower margin commemorates the expedition of the Venetian merchant Gasparo Balbi to study local methods of pearl fishing in Persia in 1580. Although the print’s original viewers likely believed it was an accurate representation of a foreign culture, Stradanus himself never left Europe and his depiction of the pearl divers is based on Balbi’s account rather than first-hand knowledge.
Notes
Design for a print by Cornelis Galle I, appearing as number 93 in the series of 104 hunting images in Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium. Pugnae bestiarorum: et mutuae bestiarum (1596) later published in 1600 by Philips Galle; there are a number of differences between the drawing and the print and the predominance of corrective white heightening indicates this was a late rejected design. There is an earlier study of the scene in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York (1901-39-2664). The scene had been described as Native Americans pearl diving in the Caribbean, due to the feather skirts, but the inscription (previously hidden under a mount) reveals the location as the Persian Gulf, as it refers to Gasparo Balbi's 1580 expedition to Hormuz Island, related in his Viaggio all'Indie Orientali, published in Venice in 1590.
Provenance
possibly Bernard Quaritch (London), in 1881 (if part of no. 3521 in his Catalogue of works on natural history, physics, mathematics, and other sciences offered for sale at the cash prices affixed, described as ‘Sixty original drawings by Stradanus, of Field Sports, Hunting Wild Animals, Fowling, Fishing &c.’) or 1890 (if part of no. 155 in his catalogue Exhibition of books and manuscripts, described as ‘Sixty original tinted Drawings by the painter Jan Stradanus’); possibly purchased there by William A. Baillie-Grohman, London and Tyrol (1851-1921), L.370; by descent to his wife; his estate sale, Sotheby’s (London), 14 May 1923, lot 162 (along with D.1952.RW.269, 281, 283, 1634 and 1635); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952) (£3.75); Witt Bequest 1952
Exhibition History
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Frick Collection, New York, 02/10/2012-27/01/2013
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012
Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983 ...More
Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977-January 1978
Trésor de l’art flamand du moyen âge au XVIIIme Siècle [Afdeeling van de Oud-Vlaamische Kunst], Antwerp, 1930
Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1927 ...Less
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012
Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983 ...More
Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977-January 1978
Trésor de l’art flamand du moyen âge au XVIIIme Siècle [Afdeeling van de Oud-Vlaamische Kunst], Antwerp, 1930
Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1927 ...Less
Literature
Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
no. 18
ill. p. 107, detail on p. 109
Leesberg, Marjolein, The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, vol. 19, Johannes Stradanus, Oudekerk aan den Ijssel 2008
p. 186, under no. 491
van Sasse van Ysselt, Dorine, 'Una composizione di Giovanni Stradano identificata: la pesca delle perle nel Golfo Persico' in '"Aus Quatre Vents": a Festschrift for Bert W. Meijer', Florence 2002 - 237-42
pp. 237-42
fig. 3 on p. 239 ...More
Baroni Vannucci, Alessandra, Jan van der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano: flandrus pictor et inventor, Milan, 1997
p. 325, under no. 693.93
ill.
Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 35
ill. p. 41
Achilles, Katrin, 'Indianer auf der Jagd: Der neue Kontinent in den Venationes des Johannes Stradanus' in 'Mythen der Neuen Welt', Berlin 1982 - 161-72
pp. 161-72
fig. 159
Bok-van Kammen, Stradanus and the hunt, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 1977
pp. 517-18
also explains iconography of the scene
Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977- January 1978
cat. no. 8
Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 130
Mémorial de l’exposition d’art flamand ancien à Anvers, Antwerp, 1930 Paris 1932
cat. no. 472
Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1927, 1927
cat. no. 553
Baillie-Grohman, William Adolf, 'Arts and Crafts in the Sixteenth Century, Part III' in 'Nash's Pall Mall Magazine', May - August 1900 - 158-66; 21
pp. 158-66
fig. 8 ...Less
no. 18
ill. p. 107, detail on p. 109
Leesberg, Marjolein, The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, vol. 19, Johannes Stradanus, Oudekerk aan den Ijssel 2008
p. 186, under no. 491
van Sasse van Ysselt, Dorine, 'Una composizione di Giovanni Stradano identificata: la pesca delle perle nel Golfo Persico' in '"Aus Quatre Vents": a Festschrift for Bert W. Meijer', Florence 2002 - 237-42
pp. 237-42
fig. 3 on p. 239 ...More
Baroni Vannucci, Alessandra, Jan van der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano: flandrus pictor et inventor, Milan, 1997
p. 325, under no. 693.93
ill.
Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 35
ill. p. 41
Achilles, Katrin, 'Indianer auf der Jagd: Der neue Kontinent in den Venationes des Johannes Stradanus' in 'Mythen der Neuen Welt', Berlin 1982 - 161-72
pp. 161-72
fig. 159
Bok-van Kammen, Stradanus and the hunt, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 1977
pp. 517-18
also explains iconography of the scene
Flemish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, October 1977- January 1978
cat. no. 8
Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 130
Mémorial de l’exposition d’art flamand ancien à Anvers, Antwerp, 1930 Paris 1932
cat. no. 472
Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1927, 1927
cat. no. 553
Baillie-Grohman, William Adolf, 'Arts and Crafts in the Sixteenth Century, Part III' in 'Nash's Pall Mall Magazine', May - August 1900 - 158-66; 21
pp. 158-66
fig. 8 ...Less
Inscriptions
Watermark: Watermark: centre: dove on two hills within a double circle (per Peter Bower, from an unidentified Northern Italian papermaker).
Collector's mark: Removed from verso (on a backing sheet?) but recorded in file: William A. Baillie-Grohman (L.370).
Inscription: Recto: lower right (within the drawing), brown ink, signed by the artist: "ioan stradanus"; along lower edge (outside pictorial area), brown ink, artist's hand, partially trimmed away: "[...]aro Balbi venetiano in den Reÿse van indie di Levanta schet iur[?] isole de ormus vessehense de perlen op dese maniere maken op derde renden pana[...]".
Collector's mark: Removed from verso (on a backing sheet?) but recorded in file: William A. Baillie-Grohman (L.370).
Inscription: Recto: lower right (within the drawing), brown ink, signed by the artist: "ioan stradanus"; along lower edge (outside pictorial area), brown ink, artist's hand, partially trimmed away: "[...]aro Balbi venetiano in den Reÿse van indie di Levanta schet iur[?] isole de ormus vessehense de perlen op dese maniere maken op derde renden pana[...]".
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