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

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

Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, 2017-18
cat. no. 28

Lusheck, Catherine, Rubens and the Eloquence of Drawing, London, 2017
pp. 178, 194, 201

Jaffé, Michael, Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook, London 1966
vol. I, pp. 43, 100-01n66
transcribed and translated

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: upper half of page, brown ink, transcribed and translated by Jaffé 1966 with assistance from Francis Haskell, who found the scribe not only made mistakes but used unrecognizable words: “vero modo per l’anatomia / pigliar gli ossi dun huomo et coniongerli ben insieme / con stilo di ferro et per maner rúbarazzo li potranno / pigliare d’ún pútto di dieci anni in circa / poi vesteli poco a poco ad imitatione de la vera anatomia / con músculi postiti qúali si cústanno di fusteúm / foderato et pieno di bonibace e ogni sa che ti fanno / li brazeri le carulogini con de la furta percúna / grossa” [A correct way of anatomy – take the bones of a man and fit them well together with an iron stylus and in order to remain … one can take those from a boy of about ten years old – then clothe them bit by bit to imitate a correct anatomy with feigned muscles which … of the body (?) lined and full of well-being (?) and everybody knows that the cartilages (?) with the … large … make the arms]; lower right corner, graphite, folio number: “22”.