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Apelles painting Campaspe

Maker

Copy after
(artist)
1544-1603

Title

Medium

pen and brown ink, grey wash, white bodycolour on laid paper, with brown ink framing lines partially trimmed away

Dimensions

Height: 38 cm
Width: 29.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3642

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

Notes

The subject of this drawing is taken from Pliny’s Historia Naturalis (Book XXXV, chapter 36). According to Pliny, Alexander the Great asked his favourite painter, Apelles, to paint his favourite mistress, Campaspe. In the course of painting her portrait, Apelles fell in love with her, and Alexander conceded his mistress to the painter, a gesture intended to acknowledge that love inspired by beauty is most appreciated by an artist who can discern it best.

Provenance

H.D. Fouquet (according to notes in curatorial file); Efim Schapiro, London (1899-1977); acquired from him (in exchange for Robert Witt's drawing no. 397 by Perino del Vaga) by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Literature

Boon, Karel G., The Netherlandish and German drawings of the XVth and XVIth centuries of the Frits Lugt Collection, Institut Néerlandais, Paris 1992
vol. I, note 7 on p. 412
as a copy after van Winghe

Bucken, Veronique, Joos Van Winghe (1542/4-1603), peintre à Bruxelles, en Italie et à Francfort, PhD thesis, Université libre de Bruxelles, 1991
p. 337 under no. 104
as a copy after van Winghe

L'époque de Lucas de Leyde et Pierre Brueghel: dessins des anciens Pays-Bas, Collection Fritz Lugt, Istituto universitario olandese di storia dell'arte, Florence; Institut néerlandaise, Paris, 1980-1981 Fondation Custodia, Paris 1980
note 5 on p. 228
entry author: Boon as a copy after van Winghe ...More

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 133 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: Verso: lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Inscription: Recto: upper right edge (within drawing), brown ink: "340.". Verso: lower right edge, black chalk: "S2"; lower right, graphite; "549"; lower right corner, graphite, partially gone over in brown ink: "15/."; lower centre edge, graphite: "B. Spranger, 1546_"; lower right edge, graphite: "84".

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