Only a handful of drawings remain by David, one of the last great early Netherlandish painters. This sheet must have been part of a sketchbook. The liveliness and the individuality of the figures suggest the drawings were made from life. None of the heads appears in David's paintings, but certainly this type of sketching allowed the artist to imbue his painted figures with striking realism and profound humanity. This rare sheet was acquired to strengthen the Museum's collection of Northern European drawings.
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Inscription: At upper centre, numbered "xij" in pen and brown ink (fifteenth- or sixteenth-century handwriting from the Netherlands)
Marking: Traces of a watermark
Philipp Dräxler von Carin (Austrian); Josef Carl von Klinkosch (Austrian); his sale, C. J. Wawra (Austrian), April 15, 1889 and following days, lot 469; Moritz von Kuffner (Austrian); Artemis Fine Arts, New York (American), sold in the 1990s; Vendor: Salamander Fine Arts
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paper Chase: Two Decades of Collecting Drawings and Prints," December 9, 2014–March 16, 2015.
Alfred Woltmann Holbein und seine Zeit. vol. 2, Leipzig, 1866–1868, p. 472.
Gustav Friedrich Waagen Die vornehmsten Kunstdenmäler in Wien. vol. 2, 1867, p. 196.
C. J. Wawra Katalog der reichhaltigen und vorzüglichen Sammlung von Alten Handzeichnungen, Miniaturen, alten Kupferstichen, Radirungen, Holzschnitten, Büchern, Bildwerken etc aus dem Nachlasse des Herrn Josef C. Ritter von Klinkosch [Sale cat., April 15, 1889]. 1889, cat. no. 469.
"Drawings by Gerard David" in Burlington Magazine. 1908, p. 155.
Hans Tietze, Heinrich Sitte Österreichische Kunsttopographie: Die Denkmale der Stadt Wien. XI-XXi Bezirk. vol. 2, Vienna, 1908, fig. no. 241, p. 224, ill.
Paul Leprieur "De quelques dessins nouveaux au musée du Louvre." in La revue de l'art ancien et moderne. vol. 28, July-December, 1910, pp. 170-171.
Joseph Meder Die Handzeichnung, Ihre Technik und Entwicklung. Vienna, 1919, p. 198.
Friedrich Winkler "Das Skizzenbuch Gerard Davids" Pantheon. III, 1929, fig. no. 2, pp. 271-275, ill.
Frits Lugt Inventaire général des dessins des écoles du Nord. Maîtres des anciens Pays-Bas nés avant 1550. Paris, 1968, p. 20.
James Mundy Gerard David Studies. PhD diss., 1980 fig. no. 57, p. 58, ill.
John Oliver Hand, J. Richard Judson, Andrew Robison, Martha Wolff The Age of Bruegel. Netherlandish Drawings in the Sixteenth Century. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, Nov. 7, 1986-Jan. 18, 1987 and at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, Jan. 30-Apr. 5, 1987. Washington, 1987, p. 131, note 5.
Hans J. van Miegroet Gerard David. Antwerp, 1989, cat. no. 75D, p. 134, ill.
Maryan W. Ainsworth "The 'Mocking of Christ', a Hitherto Unknown Painting by Gerard David." Städel-Jahrbuch. n.s. vol. 15, 1997, fig. no. 7, p. 152, ill.
Maryan W. Ainsworth Gerard David. Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1998, pp. 7-10, fig. 2, ill.
Stijn Alsteens, Carmen C. Bambach, Perrin Stein "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2008-2010." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 68, no. 2, Fall 2010, p. 18 (entry written by Stijn Alsteens), ill.
Assistant Curator Allison Rudnick and intern Angela Pastorelli-Sosa present the final nine artworks that will be on view in The Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery to celebrate the centenary of the Department of Drawings and Prints.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
