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Birth of the Virgin

Maker

Wibrant Jansen (artist)
born 1666

After
(artist)
1483-1520

Title

Birth of the Virgin

Date of Production

1666

Medium

pen and brown ink on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 23.5 cm
Width: 18.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4169

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 drawing is signed and dated at lower left by Wibrant Jansen, an otherwise unknown artist. Without this inscription we would be completely ignorant of his existence, as no other works by him have come to light. The use of pen and ink and the extensive hatching resemble an engraving, suggesting this may have been a design for a print. This idea is supported by the attendants in the foreground carrying out their tasks with their left hands; when reversed in the printing process, they would have appeared right-handed.

Notes

A copy after a drawing attributed to Giovanni Francesco Penni, of which there are two versions - one in Stockholm (Nationalmuseum, Inv. 342), the other in the Brussels Bibliotheque Royal Albert Ier (Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier S.IV 40016, image attached and in file). It was probably known to Jansen by a print in reverse by Cornelius Cort. There is also a copy after the original in the Louvre (INV 4263, http://arts-graphiques.louvre.fr/detail/oeuvres/52/101505-Naissance-de-la-Vierge). Penni's composition was probably a study for the predella of an altarpiece in Monteluce (now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana) which was painted by Berto di Giovanni (information provided by Paul Joannides and Dominique Cordellier). There is another engraved copy, in reverse, by Julius Goltzius (https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-1892-A-17507).

Provenance

Jacob Herman Jan Mellaert (1875-1972), London; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Reading Drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 21/01/2017-04/06/2017

Literature

Gnann, Achim and Oberhuber, Konrad (eds.), Roma e lo stile classico di Raffaello: 1515-1527, Palazzo Te, Mantua and Albertina, Vienna, 1999

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 127

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, signed and dated: "Wibrant Jansen fecit / Anno 1666". Verso: lower right, graphite, mount instructions: “Open”; lower left corner, graphite, Witt number: “4169”; lower right, graphite: “#1”.

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

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