by-nc

Study of a seated female nude seen from behind

Maker

Attributed to
(artist)
1606-1669

Title

Study of a seated female nude seen from behind

Date of Production

1635?

Medium

black chalk on laid (heavily foxed) paper

Dimensions

Height: 15.9 cm
Width: 11.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.404

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords




Label Text

In this remarkably unidealised view of a nude woman, drawn from life in the artist’s studio, Rembrandt studies how light and shade affect the modelling and surface texture of the torso. The cast shadow, marked with heavy strokes, firmly anchors the body on the paper, whilst short curves shape the back, and fluent lines suggest a drapery covering the woman’s lap. Shortcomings in the rendering of the anatomy indicate an early date for the drawing.

Provenance

Joseph Daniel Böhm, Vienna (1794-1865), L.1442 and L.271; Rudolf Peltzer, Cologne (1825-1910), variant of L.2231 on the verso; by descent to his heirs; their sale, Gutekunst (Stuttgart), 13-14 May 1914, lot 308 (pl. 21); Dr Hans Wendland, Lugano; his sale, Kornfeld and Klipstein (Berne), 14 June 1967, lot 254; purchased there by Colnaghi (London) on behalf of Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978) (£2,590); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

Special Display - Rembrandt drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 22/02/2007-03/06/2007

Rembrandt's Women, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh and Royal Academy of Arts, London, 08/06/2001-16/12/2001

Drawings by Rembrandt in the Princes Gate Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 02/07/1983-25/09/1983

Literature

Rembrandt's Women, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh and Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2001
cat. no. 14
as by Rembrandt, dated c. 1630-34

Sumowski, Werner, trans. by Walter L. Strauss, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, 10 vols., New York 1979-1992
under no. 895

Giltaij, Jeroen, The drawings by Rembrandt and his school in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen Rotterdam, 1988
p. 312 under no. 182
as attributed to Rembrandt ...More

Drawings by Rembrandt in the Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Galllery, 1983
cat. no. 2

Seilern, Count Antoine, Recent Acquisitions at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7, London 1971; VI
no. 404
pl. XIII
dated early 1630s

Benesch, Otto, Corpus der Rembrandtzeichnungen, 1954-73
vol. II, no. 193
ill.
dated c. 1632

Benesch, O., Rembrandt. Werk und Forschung, Vienna 1935
p. 15

Bauch, K., Die Kunst des jungen Rembrandt, Heidelberg 1933
p. 192
fig. 42

H.G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, Katalog wertvoller und seltener Handzeichnungen von Meistern aller Schulen des 15. - 19. Jahrhunderts aus der Sammlung des Herrn Landgerichtsrats a. D. Peltzer † in Köln u. a.: vorzügliche und bedeutende Blätter von Aldegrever ..., 13-14 May 1914
lot 308
pl. 21

Royalton-Kisch, Martin, The drawings of Rembrandt: a revision of Otto Benesch's catalogue raisonné, rembrandtcatalogue.net ongoing
Benesch 0193 (posted 13 August 2015) and under 0191, 0192 and 0193a
as very probably by Rembrandt, dated 1635? ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: According to the 1983 exhibition catalogue, formerly inscribed on the Recto: upper left: “18765”, but this not currently evident anywhere on the drawing. Verso: upper centre, graphite: "3183"; centre, graphite: "No. 1"; lower left, graphite: "#240"; lower left, graphite: "J.D. Boehm" [labelling L.271 which is below; described in the 1983 catalogue as a variant of L.272 but it is not]; lower right, graphite, with an arrow pointing up to L.2231 above: "K dox" [? a misidentification of the Lugt mark?].

Collector's mark: Verso: upper left corner, stamped in blue: Joseph Daniel Böhm (L.1442); lower left edge, stamped in blue: Joseph Daniel Böhm (L.271); lower right, stamped in purplish-red: Rudolf Peltzer (L.2331, although it is 5 mm wide yet recorded on Lugt as 4 mm wide, and may not be an exact match).

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