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Death and the Lovers - Allegory of 'Vanitas'

Maker

(artist)
1566-1651

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1620 - 1630

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink, red and brown wash, white bodycolour (oxidised in places) on laid paper, with graphite and brown ink framing lines, laid down on a historic support

Dimensions

Height: 21.1 cm
Width: 16.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3744

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 moralising drawing – finished to a high degree with lavish washes – shows a soldier seducing a young woman. Distracted by her sensuousness, he is unaware of the skeletal legs beneath her skirt and the figure of Death poised to strike with his arrow. A devil hovers above ready to claim his soul. The hourglass, lute and mirror serve to further underscore the brevity and vanity of mortal life. The reddish colouring, fire and smoke intensify the macabre atmosphere.

Notes

Described in Bolten 2007 as 'the mortal hazards of the battlefield: a soldier turns away from Knowledge (a Lute) and courting Vita brevis (woman with skeleton legs leaning on an hourglass, holding a mirror); Death, thrusting him with this spear; a devil flying above them; in the background, two cloaked skeletons and billowing fire'. Possibly a counterpart to similar allegory he calls 'Hazards of Love' at Hamburg Kunsthalle (52.327). There is also a later copy of the main figures in a private collection in Toronto, with an attribution to Bloemaert and dated 1649.

Provenance

unidentified collector (L.1299a); Leonard G. Duke, London (1890-1971); purchased from him by Colnaghi (London), 9 June 1945; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, 29 June 1945 (£6.10); 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

The Witt Collection - Four centuries of drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2004-20/06/2004 ...More

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 16/10/1991-19/01/1992

Master Drawings from the Witt and Courtauld Collections, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 17/11/1962-22/12/1962 ...Less

Literature

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
pp. 114-117

Stefes, Annemarie, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450-1850, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2011
vol. I, p. 113 under no. 102

Bolten, Jaap, Abraham Bloemaert c. 1565-1651: the drawings, 2007
no. 602 on pp. 211-12
fig. 602 on p. 275 ...More

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1991
cat. no. 10
pp. 28, 173
ill. on p. 29

Forker, Charles R., Skull beneath the skin: the achievement of John Webster, Southern Illinois University 1986
p. 242
fig. 8

'Wiles and witchery of "foul effeminacy" in 'Life' magazine, 13 August 1971; 71
ill. on p. 43

Anthony Blunt and Philip Troutman, Master Drawings from the Witt and Courtauld Collections, 1962
cat. no. 17

Bernt, Walter, Die niederländischen Maler und Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich 1957-1958
vol. 4, no. 70 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: unable to check due to the support (Paper Conservator likewise could not see any in raking light).

Inscription: Support (historic), Verso: centre, graphite: "Death / by / Ab Blomart //"; lower left corner, graphite: "PNo42". Mount (removed, recorded in file): L.G. Duke’s initials.

Collector's mark: Support (historic), Recto: lower left corner, graphite: initials of unidentified collector (L.1299a), followed by numbers "212"; lower left edge, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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