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Seated female nude, in drapery

Maker

(artist)
1615-1660

Title

Seated female nude, in drapery

Date of Production

(?) 1630 - 1639 or 1648

Medium

black and white chalk on blue laid paper (variegated, with fibres dyed with indigotin), with black chalk framing lines mostly trimmed away

Dimensions

Height: 31.7 cm
Width: 22.7 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4002

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

Flinck, formerly a pupil of Rembrandt's, began making academic figure studies in 1637 and sketched with other Amsterdam painters from the nude throughout the 1640s and 1650s. His drawings of the female nude, mostly in chalk on blue paper, are numerous. This drawing has been dated on account of its similarity to a study of the same model drawn by Jacob Adriaensz Backer, who died in 1651. There is further evidence of the date, and of the likely identity of the model, in the form of a witness statement made some years later testifying to the disreputable lifestyle of a woman (the daughter of a Lutheran minister) 'painted as stark naked as one could possibly be' by Flinck in 1648.

Provenance

Frits Lugt (1884-1970); acquired from him (in an exchange) by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawn to Blue: Artists' use of Blue Paper, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 04/10/2024-26/01/2025

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

Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983 ...More

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

Literature

Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 44
p. 44
ill. on p. 54

Dutch drawings from the Witt Collection: Part 2: Other than landscape, Courtauld Gallery, London, November 1976 - Febr
cat. no. 33

Moltke, J.W. von, Govaert Flinck 1615-1660, Amsterdam 1965
no. D.202

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, lower left corner: a line leading to a small ball/bell/cup? Unable to see clearly even with VSC. Measures 47.5 cm high and 28 cm between chain lines.

Inscription: none.

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

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