Johnson Manuscript page - double bust of Hercules and Mercury (as an old man) (recto)
Johnson Manuscript page - text beginning 'Ebúrneús Salivús ex una parte...' (verso)

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Title

Johnson Manuscript page - double bust of Hercules and Mercury (as an old man) (recto)
Johnson Manuscript page - text beginning 'Ebúrneús Salivús ex una parte...' (verso)

Date of Production

(mid 18th century) 1725 - 1775

Medium

black chalk, pen and grey ink, grey wash (recto), pen and grey ink (verso) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 21 cm
Width: 16 cm

Object Number

MS.1978.PG.1.138 (fol. 120)

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left centre edge, fragment: lower half of a foolscap with five points visible above "4" above three Medici balls (matches Heawood 2002 - dated 1674 on a collection of Dutch paper in London).

Inscription: Recto: lower centre of drawing, grey ink, symbol: “T“; lower centre, brown ink, Maurice Johnson senior's hand according to Jaffé 1966: “Hercules Mercury / v. Hartleys Britannia Romana 343“; lower right corner, graphite, folio number: “120“. Verso: upper left, grey ink, symbol from recto: “T“ and following, in grey ink: “Ebúrneús Salivús ex una parte et Judús / cloviús / Niger Aethrops ex ebono ab altra parto / cumdentes súbsidente albi ex Ebore Inferantur / in[?] et oculi / vide apud pansaniam aliquos statúas ex Electro/ factas [...]ewelen [...] Emmer[?]“.

Provenance

possibly Albert Rubens (1614-1657); bought by Captain Maurice Johnson, 1742/44 for his father, Maurice Johnson Sr., Spalding (1688-1755); by descent in Johnson and Marsden families; W.A. Marsden (book-plate, 1897); Christopher Marsden (bookplate, 1930); his sale, Sotheby's (London), 23-24 March, 1970, lot 179; purchased there via Maggs Bros. (London) by Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978) (£2,600); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, 17/10/2017-21/01/2018; Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, 08/02/2018-03/06/2018

Literature

Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, 2017-18
cat. no. 28
McGrath, Elizabeth, 'Rubens's Musathena' in the Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 1987; L
p. 245
Jaffé, Michael, Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook, London 1966
vol. I, p. 78n3

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