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Four Evangelists seated at a table with their attributes

Maker

Copy after
(artist)
1566-1651

Title

Date of Production

(circa?) 1610 - 1615

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, white bodycolour, added graphite, on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 26.5 cm
Width: 33.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2781

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

In this study for a painting, the Evanglists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are arranged symmetrically around a table, each with a book and their attributes: an angel, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, shown here with an inkhorn in its beak. These creatures, known as the 'apocalyptic beasts' from their description in the Book of Revelation, were among the most frequently used symbols in Christian iconography. The draughtsman of this sheet had most probably never seen a lion.

Provenance

Dirk Versteegh; his sale, De Vries etc. (Amsterdam), 3 November 1823, kbk PP no. 5; purchased there by de Lelie; J. Roelofs; his sale, De Vries & Roos (Amsterdam), 8 March 1824, kbk L no. 20; Johann Goll van Franckenstein (1722-1785); Sir Charles Greville (1763-1832), L.549; by descent to his nephew, George Guy, Earl of Warwick (1818-1893); his estate sale, Sotheby's (London), 17 June 1936, in one of the unspecified lots; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952); Witt Bequest 1952 Much of the above provenance came from Bolten 2007 p. 102.

Exhibition History

Captured on Paper, Animals in the Prints and Drawings Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/06/2002-11/08/2002

Dutch drawings from the Witt Collection: Part 2: Other than landscape, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1976-77 (Nov.-Feb.)

Old Master Drawings from the Witt Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, 01/09/1960-01/10/1960

Literature

Bolten, Jaap, Abraham Bloemaert c. 1565-1651: the drawings, 2007
p. 102 under no. 249
fig. 249a on p. 126
as a weak copy

Roethlisberger, Marcel George, 'The Four Evangelists by Abraham Bloemaert' in 'Record of the Art Museum Princeton University', 1992 - pp. 3-14; 51,1
pp. 9-10
fig. 6 on p. 8
as by Bloemaert

Dutch drawings from the Witt Collection: Part 2: Other than landscape, Courtauld Gallery, London, November 1976 - Febr
cat. no. 10 ...More

Old Master Drawings from the Witt Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, 1960
cat. no. 50 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left centre: unable to see clearly, perhaps an animal? Peter Bower was also unable to see it well enough to identify (visit June 2017).

Collector's mark: Verso: lower left corner, stamped in black ink, obscured by handling edge: Sir Charles Greville (L.549); lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Inscription: Verso: on strip of paper added to left edge, brown ink: "N. 3780"; on strip of paper added to the centre of the sheet, graphite: "6".

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