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Studies of peasants - six heads (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1634-1704

Title

Date of Production

1600 - 1699

Medium

black chalk and graphite (recto), graphite (verso), on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 18.9 cm
Width: 29.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4159

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 quick sketch by Egbert van Heemskerck, a Dutch emigrant to England in the 1670s, seems to depict a gathering of Quakers. Speakers at the meetings of these religious dissenters typically used a raised gallery to address their community. The drawing studies six individual heads from an angle of ninety degrees. The bare-headed men may well be Quakers as their eyes are turned upwards, a practice which contemporaries mocked. The remaining studies probably represent peasants, as they are missing the topped hats typically worn by Quakers.

Provenance

Alexandre-Pierre-François Robert-Dumesnil, Paris (1778-1864), L.2200; George Clausen, London (1852-1944), L.539; J.H.J. Mellaert (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

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

Literature

Dutch drawings from the Witt Collection: Part 2: Other than landscape, Courtauld Gallery, London, November 1976 - Febr
cat. no. 26

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower left corner, stamped in black: unidentified collector's mark, possibly L.2923b? (On Lugt says it is only found on Rembrandt prints, lower right corner, and ours is 2.5 mm rather than 2); lower centre edge, blindstamped: Alexandre-Pierre-François Robert-Dumesnil (L.2200); lower right corner, blindstamped: George Clausen (L.539). Verso: lower right edge, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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