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Conversion of Saint Paul (recto)
Maker
(artist)
1577-1640
1577-1640
Title
Conversion of Saint Paul (recto)
Date of Production
1610 - 1612
Medium
pen and brown ink, brown wash and white bodycolour on two sheets of laid paper, joined at the centre and laid down, with another two fragments of paper adhered on top of the right sheet; another drawing on the verso of the right sheet is hidden under the backing sheet and only a camel and riders can be discerned with transmitted light. The drawings had been separated and were reunited by Seilern in 1953, now taped together on their backing sheets.
Dimensions
Height: 22.2 cm
Width: 33.1 cm
Width: 33.1 cm
Accession Number
D.1978.PG.57
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
This pen-and-ink drawing related to an oil sketch and finished painting also in the Courtauld collection. The correcions and re-workings in all three versions (evident here in the sheets of paper pasted over an original design at the right-hand side) suggest that Rubens may have worked on them simultaneously.
The drawing appears to have been executed on opposite pages of an open sketchbook, the lines stopping just short of the central binding. The two halves were separated in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and remained in different hands until they were reunited by Count Seilern in 1953.
The drawing appears to have been executed on opposite pages of an open sketchbook, the lines stopping just short of the central binding. The two halves were separated in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and remained in different hands until they were reunited by Count Seilern in 1953.
Provenance
Left half: possibly J. P. Happart, Antwerp (in his 1686 inventory); Prosper Henry Lankrink, London (1628-1692), L.2090; Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (1723-1792), L.2364; Sir Thomas Lawrence, London (1769-1830), L.2445; ceded by his executors to Samuel Woodburn (London), 1835; Woodburn estate sale, Christie’s (London), 16 - 27 June 1854, lot 1736 (as Van Dyck); must have been bought in? as appears again in Woodburn estate sale, Christie’s (London), 4 - 8 June 1860, lot 353 (as Van Dyck); purchased there by Money? (name annotated in catalogue unclear); Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1940 (bought in October 1940 from Louis Meyer, Charing Cross Road, for £15); acquired there by Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978), in exchange for a drawing of an Angel of the Annunciation by Fra Bartolommeo, 28 October 1953; Princes Gate Bequest 1978
Right half: possibly J. P. Happart, Antwerp (in his 1686 inventory); Prosper Henry Lankrink, London (1628-1692), L.2090; Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (1723-1792), L.2364; Mathey (Paris), around 1939-1943; C.G. Boerner (Leipzig), 30 March - 1 April 1943, lot 124; purchased there by Dr Grote, East Germany; anonymous owner; purchased from him by C.G. Boerner (Düsseldorf) on behalf of Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978), 30 September 1952 (DM 2450); Princes Gate Bequest 1978
Right half: possibly J. P. Happart, Antwerp (in his 1686 inventory); Prosper Henry Lankrink, London (1628-1692), L.2090; Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (1723-1792), L.2364; Mathey (Paris), around 1939-1943; C.G. Boerner (Leipzig), 30 March - 1 April 1943, lot 124; purchased there by Dr Grote, East Germany; anonymous owner; purchased from him by C.G. Boerner (Düsseldorf) on behalf of Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978), 30 September 1952 (DM 2450); Princes Gate Bequest 1978
Exhibition History
Rubens - A Master in the Making, National Gallery, London, 26/10/2005-15/01/2006
Peter Paul Rubens - A Touch of Brilliance, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/09/2003-08/02/2004
Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate
Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 06/10/1988-08/01/1989 ...More
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/1982-25/07/1982
A loan exhibition of works by Peter Paul Rubens, Kt., Wildenstein, London, 04/10/1950-11/11/1950 ...Less
Peter Paul Rubens - A Touch of Brilliance, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/09/2003-08/02/2004
Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate
Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 06/10/1988-08/01/1989 ...More
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/1982-25/07/1982
A loan exhibition of works by Peter Paul Rubens, Kt., Wildenstein, London, 04/10/1950-11/11/1950 ...Less
Literature
Logan, Anne-Marie in association with Kristin Lohse Belkin, Anne-Marie Logan in association with Kristin Lohse Belkin, The Drawings of Peter Paul Rubens. A Critical Catalogue, Volume Two (1609-1620), 2 vols, Turnhout, 2023
I, no. 251, fig. 352, and p.160
agrees with dating c. 1610-12
McGrath, Elizabeth, Bert Schepers, Nils Büttner, Gregory Martin, Jeremy Wood, Eveliina Juntunen, Gerlinde Gruber and Fiona Healy, Mythological Subjects. II. Hercules to Olympus, CRLB XI, 2 vols., London, 2022
p. 221 under no. 65b
Clare Richardson and Kate Stonor, “The Conversion of Saint Paul Series at the Courtauld: Rubens’s Artistic Process Revealed by New Technical Discoveries,” Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 13:1 (Winter, 2021)
pp. 1-5, 9-18, 22-24
figs. 3, 15-20, 22, 26, 32, 42, 63-5 (technical details)
in file ...More
Gifford, E. Melanie, 'Rubens's Invention and Evolution: Material Evidence in The Fall of Phaeton' in 'Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art', 2019 - pp. 1-65; 11
pp. 27-28, 30
fig. 51 on p. 27
dated c. 1610-12
Rubens: painter of sketches, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2018-19
pp. 80, 82 under no. 11
fig. 41
in file
White, Christopher, ‘The Rubens exhibition at Wildenstein’s, London, 1950’ in Lieneke Nijkamp, Koen Bulckens and Pirsca Valkeneers (eds.), Picturing Ludwig Burchard 1886-1960: A Rubens Scholar in Art-Historiographical Perspective, London, 2015, pp. 77-90
pp. 85, 87-88
fig. 7
Esposito, Donato, 'What's in a mark, or what marks can tell us: the use and abuse of the collector's mark of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)' in 'Les marques de collections. II', Dijon 2011
pp. 58-59
fig. 2 on p. 155
in file
Rubens - A Master in the Making, National Gallery, London, 2005-2006
cat. no. 68
ill. on p. 152
in file
Peter Paul Rubens - A Touch of Brilliance, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2003-2004
cat. no. 11
p. 67
pl. 11
in file
A.W.F.M. Meij and Maartje De Haan (eds.), Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck and their Circle: Flemish Master Drawings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, exh. cat., Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2001
p. 98 under no. 14
fig. 1 on p. 98
Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1988-1989
cat. no. 30
and p. 19
ill. on p. 26
dated c. 1610-12; in file
Held, Julius S., Rubens: selected drawings, Oxford 1986 (2nd ed.)
no. 61 and pp. 55, 110 under no. 104
pl. 60
Freedberg, David, Rubens: the life of Christ after the Passion (CRLB), London 1984
no. 30a on pp. 118-120 and pp. 113 under no. 29, 115-17 under no. 30, 120-22 under no. 30b, 123 under no. 30c, 147
fig. 69
in file except for fig. and p. 147
Bauer, Linda Freeman, On the origins of the oil sketch: form and function in cinquecento preparatory techniques, PhD diss., New York University, 1975, published Ann Arbor, 1983
pp. 223-24 note 84
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1982
cat. no. 180
ill. on p. 128
Held, Julius S., The oil sketches of Peter Paul Rubens: a critical catalogue, Princeton 1980
pp. 462, 578-80 under no. 421, 581 under no. 422
dated 1610-12; in file
Rubens in der Grafik, Universität Göttingen, Landesmuseum Hannover, Museen der Stadt Nürnberg, 1977, 1977
p. 84 under no. 56
in file
Kuznetsov, Yuri, Rubens' drawings, Moscow 1974
no. 43
Waddingham, Malcolm, 'Elsheimer revised' in 'Burlington Magaine', Sept. 1972 - pp. 600-11; 114, 834
p. 601
in file
Seilern, Count Antoine, Corrigenda and Addenda to the Catalogue of paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, London 1971
no. 57 and p. 25, under nos. 20, 57, 21
adjusts dating to c. 1613-14; in file
Müller Hofstede, Justus, Review of Burchard and d'Hulst in 'Master Drawings', 1966; IV, 4
no. 54 on p. 445
in file
Müller Hofstede, Justus, 'An early Rubens Conversion of St Paul. The beginnings of his preoccupation with Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari' in 'Burlington Magaine', March 1964 - pp. 94-103, 105-06; 106, 732
p. 98
fig. 7
Burchard, Ludwig and R.A. d'Hulst, Rubens drawings, Brussels 1963
vol. I, no. 54 on pp. 93-94
vol. II, fig. 54
in file (except for image)
Held, Julius S., Rubens: selected drawings, London 1959
I, no. 31 and pp. 71, 111 under no. 40
II, pl. 29
dated c. 1612-14; photocopy in file
Aust, Günter, 'Entwurf und Ausführung bei Rubens' in 'Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch', 1958; XX
pp. 195-97
in file
Tekeningen van P.P. Rubens, Rubenshuis, Antwerp, 1956
p. 58 under no. 52
Norris, Christopher, 'Review: Count Seilern's Flemish paintings and drawings' in 'Burlington Magazine', Dec. 1955 - pp. 396-98, 403; 97, 633
p. 397
Seilern, Count Antoine, Flemish paintings & drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London SW 7, London 1955; I
no. 57 and pp. 34-37, 39 under no. 21
pl. CXI
dated c. 1615-17; in file
Held, Julius S., 'Rubens' pen drawings' in 'Magazine of art', Nov. 1951 - pp. 286-91
pp. 290-91 (left sheet)
fig. 9 on p. 291 (left sheet only, lent by Ashmolean)
in file
Norris, Christopher, 'Rubens in retrospect' in 'Burlington Magazine', 1951; XCIII
p. 7
fig. 4 (composite of left sheet in Ashmolean and right sheet, "whereabouts unknown")
in file
Drawings selected from the collections in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1951
pl. 16 (left sheet)
A loan exhibition of works by Peter Paul Rubens, Kt., Wildenstein, London, 1950
cat. no. 42 (left sheet, when owned by Ashmolean)
right sheet mentioned in the entry on p. 51
in file ...Less
I, no. 251, fig. 352, and p.160
agrees with dating c. 1610-12
McGrath, Elizabeth, Bert Schepers, Nils Büttner, Gregory Martin, Jeremy Wood, Eveliina Juntunen, Gerlinde Gruber and Fiona Healy, Mythological Subjects. II. Hercules to Olympus, CRLB XI, 2 vols., London, 2022
p. 221 under no. 65b
Clare Richardson and Kate Stonor, “The Conversion of Saint Paul Series at the Courtauld: Rubens’s Artistic Process Revealed by New Technical Discoveries,” Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 13:1 (Winter, 2021)
pp. 1-5, 9-18, 22-24
figs. 3, 15-20, 22, 26, 32, 42, 63-5 (technical details)
in file ...More
Gifford, E. Melanie, 'Rubens's Invention and Evolution: Material Evidence in The Fall of Phaeton' in 'Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art', 2019 - pp. 1-65; 11
pp. 27-28, 30
fig. 51 on p. 27
dated c. 1610-12
Rubens: painter of sketches, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2018-19
pp. 80, 82 under no. 11
fig. 41
in file
White, Christopher, ‘The Rubens exhibition at Wildenstein’s, London, 1950’ in Lieneke Nijkamp, Koen Bulckens and Pirsca Valkeneers (eds.), Picturing Ludwig Burchard 1886-1960: A Rubens Scholar in Art-Historiographical Perspective, London, 2015, pp. 77-90
pp. 85, 87-88
fig. 7
Esposito, Donato, 'What's in a mark, or what marks can tell us: the use and abuse of the collector's mark of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)' in 'Les marques de collections. II', Dijon 2011
pp. 58-59
fig. 2 on p. 155
in file
Rubens - A Master in the Making, National Gallery, London, 2005-2006
cat. no. 68
ill. on p. 152
in file
Peter Paul Rubens - A Touch of Brilliance, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2003-2004
cat. no. 11
p. 67
pl. 11
in file
A.W.F.M. Meij and Maartje De Haan (eds.), Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck and their Circle: Flemish Master Drawings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, exh. cat., Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2001
p. 98 under no. 14
fig. 1 on p. 98
Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1988-1989
cat. no. 30
and p. 19
ill. on p. 26
dated c. 1610-12; in file
Held, Julius S., Rubens: selected drawings, Oxford 1986 (2nd ed.)
no. 61 and pp. 55, 110 under no. 104
pl. 60
Freedberg, David, Rubens: the life of Christ after the Passion (CRLB), London 1984
no. 30a on pp. 118-120 and pp. 113 under no. 29, 115-17 under no. 30, 120-22 under no. 30b, 123 under no. 30c, 147
fig. 69
in file except for fig. and p. 147
Bauer, Linda Freeman, On the origins of the oil sketch: form and function in cinquecento preparatory techniques, PhD diss., New York University, 1975, published Ann Arbor, 1983
pp. 223-24 note 84
The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection B), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1982
cat. no. 180
ill. on p. 128
Held, Julius S., The oil sketches of Peter Paul Rubens: a critical catalogue, Princeton 1980
pp. 462, 578-80 under no. 421, 581 under no. 422
dated 1610-12; in file
Rubens in der Grafik, Universität Göttingen, Landesmuseum Hannover, Museen der Stadt Nürnberg, 1977, 1977
p. 84 under no. 56
in file
Kuznetsov, Yuri, Rubens' drawings, Moscow 1974
no. 43
Waddingham, Malcolm, 'Elsheimer revised' in 'Burlington Magaine', Sept. 1972 - pp. 600-11; 114, 834
p. 601
in file
Seilern, Count Antoine, Corrigenda and Addenda to the Catalogue of paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, London 1971
no. 57 and p. 25, under nos. 20, 57, 21
adjusts dating to c. 1613-14; in file
Müller Hofstede, Justus, Review of Burchard and d'Hulst in 'Master Drawings', 1966; IV, 4
no. 54 on p. 445
in file
Müller Hofstede, Justus, 'An early Rubens Conversion of St Paul. The beginnings of his preoccupation with Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari' in 'Burlington Magaine', March 1964 - pp. 94-103, 105-06; 106, 732
p. 98
fig. 7
Burchard, Ludwig and R.A. d'Hulst, Rubens drawings, Brussels 1963
vol. I, no. 54 on pp. 93-94
vol. II, fig. 54
in file (except for image)
Held, Julius S., Rubens: selected drawings, London 1959
I, no. 31 and pp. 71, 111 under no. 40
II, pl. 29
dated c. 1612-14; photocopy in file
Aust, Günter, 'Entwurf und Ausführung bei Rubens' in 'Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch', 1958; XX
pp. 195-97
in file
Tekeningen van P.P. Rubens, Rubenshuis, Antwerp, 1956
p. 58 under no. 52
Norris, Christopher, 'Review: Count Seilern's Flemish paintings and drawings' in 'Burlington Magazine', Dec. 1955 - pp. 396-98, 403; 97, 633
p. 397
Seilern, Count Antoine, Flemish paintings & drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London SW 7, London 1955; I
no. 57 and pp. 34-37, 39 under no. 21
pl. CXI
dated c. 1615-17; in file
Held, Julius S., 'Rubens' pen drawings' in 'Magazine of art', Nov. 1951 - pp. 286-91
pp. 290-91 (left sheet)
fig. 9 on p. 291 (left sheet only, lent by Ashmolean)
in file
Norris, Christopher, 'Rubens in retrospect' in 'Burlington Magazine', 1951; XCIII
p. 7
fig. 4 (composite of left sheet in Ashmolean and right sheet, "whereabouts unknown")
in file
Drawings selected from the collections in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1951
pl. 16 (left sheet)
A loan exhibition of works by Peter Paul Rubens, Kt., Wildenstein, London, 1950
cat. no. 42 (left sheet, when owned by Ashmolean)
right sheet mentioned in the entry on p. 51
in file ...Less
Inscriptions
Watermark: Right sheet, centre edge: motif within a circle, centred on a chain line, bisected by the edge, as sheet was originally in a sketchbook (Richardson and Stonor 2021 published an image of the watermark, and said it is 'reminiscent of those commonly used on Italian papers of the period but not thus far recorded on any other papers used by Ruben'. They checked it against those listed in Burchard and d'Hulst 1963).
Collector's mark: Recto: repeated at lower left and right corners (indicating the sheets were separate at the time), stamped in black: Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.2364); repeated at lower left centre and lower right (again indicating separated sheets), stamped in black: Prosper Henry Lankrink (L.2090); lower left, blindstamped: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445).
Inscription: Verso (hidden under backing sheet): upper centre edge of left sheet, brown ink, 17th-century hand: “Le.I.”; upper centre edge of right sheet, 17th-century hand: “Le.II.” [these not found in Lugt]. Recto of backing sheet (hidden behind drawing, visible via transmitted light): upper centre edge of both left and right sheets, unclear but seem to be numbers: “3 […] x 3” and "[...] x2". Verso (backing sheet): upper left edge, brown ink, first line/lines cut off, Sir Joshua Reynolds' hand (according to Seilern): “[…] / The Picture is at Dusseldorp [sic]”; upper centre edge, graphite, partially covered by tape: “14[?]”; right centre, graphite, suggested by A.E. Popham to be Samuel Woodburn's hand: “Conversion of St Paul / Vandyck / Lawrence Colln”. Removed from mount in 1982, cut down and now in object file: stencil printed in purple: “186”; graphite, cut off: “Rubens / Exhib / No. 180”.
Collector's mark: Recto: repeated at lower left and right corners (indicating the sheets were separate at the time), stamped in black: Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.2364); repeated at lower left centre and lower right (again indicating separated sheets), stamped in black: Prosper Henry Lankrink (L.2090); lower left, blindstamped: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445).
Inscription: Verso (hidden under backing sheet): upper centre edge of left sheet, brown ink, 17th-century hand: “Le.I.”; upper centre edge of right sheet, 17th-century hand: “Le.II.” [these not found in Lugt]. Recto of backing sheet (hidden behind drawing, visible via transmitted light): upper centre edge of both left and right sheets, unclear but seem to be numbers: “3 […] x 3” and "[...] x2". Verso (backing sheet): upper left edge, brown ink, first line/lines cut off, Sir Joshua Reynolds' hand (according to Seilern): “[…] / The Picture is at Dusseldorp [sic]”; upper centre edge, graphite, partially covered by tape: “14[?]”; right centre, graphite, suggested by A.E. Popham to be Samuel Woodburn's hand: “Conversion of St Paul / Vandyck / Lawrence Colln”. Removed from mount in 1982, cut down and now in object file: stencil printed in purple: “186”; graphite, cut off: “Rubens / Exhib / No. 180”.
Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.
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