Johnson Manuscript page - face of the Flora Farnese compared to a horse

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Title

Johnson Manuscript page - face of the Flora Farnese compared to a horse

Date of Production

(mid 18th century) 1725 - 1775

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 21 cm
Width: 16 cm

Object Number

MS.1978.PG.1.97 (fol. 93)

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left centre edge, fragment: tip of a "V"-shape.

Inscription: Recto: upper right corner, brown ink: "233 .a."; upper right, brown ink, transcribed and translated in van der Meulen (CRLB) 1994: "os hominis ex equo solum / súmitúr / labiúm súperiús magis / feminens inferiori / spatiúm inter nasúm et os / breve" [a small space between nose and the upper lip, which protrudes a little and is slightly parted from the lower one]; lower right corner, graphite, folio number: "93".

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, pp. 78-79
Jaffé, Michael, Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook, London 1966
vol. I, p. 31

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