Johnson Manuscript page - two diagrams of Hercules's head with accompanying text

by-nc

Title

Johnson Manuscript page - two diagrams of Hercules's head with accompanying text

Date of Production

(mid 18th century) 1725 - 1775

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink (images), pen and brown ink (text) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 20.7 cm
Width: 16.2 cm

Object Number

MS.1978.PG.1.60 (fol. 58)

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left centre edge, fragment: upper half of Arms of Amsterdam.

Inscription: Recto: upper right corner, brown ink, Rubens’s original foliation: “207.a.”; upper edge, brown ink: “ex circulo et globo p[er]fecto / temperamentum circulus e[st]”; upper right, brown ink: “o[mn]is lineae angularis”; centre, brown ink: “circúlús p[er]fectus sesquialieri quadrati foa teres / sive ovalis sit infinitúm aut minús / robusti corporis singuli o[mn]es recti / igitur per circulum p[er]fectúm amputabatur / fixúm enim gra fixúm et stra / Ex antique lapide hercules”; head on left labelled in brown ink: “A / B / F / H / G” and head at right: “D / E H” on one side and “A / F[?] / B” on the other; lower right corner, graphite, folio number: “58”.

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
van der Meulen, Marjorie, Rubens copies after the Antique (CRLB), 3 vols, London 1994
vol. I, p. 71; vol. II, pp. 41-42, 45
Fig. p. vol. III, fig. 42
Jaffé, Michael, Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook, London 1966
vol. I, pp. 18, 96n64

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 may be present in our records.
We are also constantly working to digitise the collection and improve the quality of our digital resources; images will be added/updated as new photography becomes available.
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.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection