A Sheet of Drawings from Rubens'

Second Roman Period and his Early Style as a Landscape Draughtsman by MICHAEL JAFFÉ

Gio: Pietro Bellori, in writing of the paintings that Rubens executed on slate at the Chiesa Nuova, praised especially the figures of "San G Gregorio Papa, e San Mauro martire in habito militare eseguite con l'intentione di Paolo Veronese".1 ) The figure of St. Maurus is resplendent in a harness as evocatively antique Roman as only Rubens knew how to make it. Nevertheless there is justice in Bellori's observation that Rubens emulated Veronese in presenting such a military saint. And we may think of Veronese's heroic figure of St. Menna which Rubens knew in Venice. In the impressive trial-piece that Rubens painted to convince the Oratorian Fathers of his fitness for the coveted commission - for such the canvas formerly at Potsdam - seems to have been:') and in his first great, and duly admired altarpiece on which he lavished so much study and skill ) the St. Maurus figures re- flected another aspect of his artistic heritage, the Correggesque: or more precisely, in the case of his altarpiece, Correggio's Madonna of St. George, from which he studied and drew in Modena ; 5) and in the case of the trial- piece, a feeling for Correggio's grazia and spring in movement appreciated through the sympathetic eyes of a senior artist of his own period, Annibale Carracci. But at a later stage, after he had won the Oratorian Congregation's consent to refashion the work for their cappella maggiore (since it became clear that disagreeable reflections would prevent this first completed altarpiece on canvas ever showing to advantage when once hoisted into position), the basis of his inspiration shifted from the Emilian and Bolognese towards something almost as Venetian as the sumptuous silks on his St. Domitilla: whilst his

1) Gio: Pietro Bellori, Le Vite de' Pittori...... , Roma (1672), p. 223. 2) Painted as an organ shutter for San Geminiano, Venice. G. Fiocco, Paolo Veronese, Bologna (1928), p. 63, pl. XXVII. The Fitzwilliam Museum drawing (No. 3169) in black chalk and brown wash, on faded carta azzurra, 395 200 mm., is a copy after the painting (collections Richardson senior; Sir J. C. Robinson). The principal outlines of this drawing are gone over with a stylus, in preparation seemingly for an engraving. 3) See Catalogue of the exhibition, Olieverfschetsen van Rubens, Rotterdam (1953), No. 3, for the original publication by H. G. Evers and full references; amended in the review by M. Jaffe, Burlington Magazine XCVI (February 1954), p. 54. The forthcoming issue of Proporzioni IV mentioned in this review is still awaited. 4) Rubens Kl. d. K. (1921 edn.) pt. 23. 1) See 1. Albertina. Inscribed in an 18th century hand, "Rubens d'apres Correge". Pen and brown wash over an underdrawing in black chalk, with white oil heightening, on white paper, original size 204 \ 185 mm., enlarged by Rubens to 256 208 mm. Reproduced by Ad. Braun 70.820. I am indebted to Mr A. E. Popham, who kindly drew my attention to this drawing, known to me only in reproduction.

1 emulous enthusiasm for Correggio, first manifest on the grand scale in his Circumcision 6) for S. Ambrogio, Genoa, and as yet unabatedly fervid, then found its contemporary expression combined with his love for in the Adoration of the Shepherds for the Oratorian Congregation at F ermo. í) A pen and wash drawing at Chantilly X) has long been known, which shows a far more Venetian St. Maurus as a member of the revised group of figures about St. Gregory, much as they appear painted on one of the lateral fields of slate; but what seems to be a consideration of the St. Maurus figure alone, preceding this composition study, may be found on a handsome sheet of drawings., 9) hitherto unpublished, belonging to Professor J. Q. van Regteren Altena. Indeed this whole sheet merits attention in relation to the work of Rubens as a draughtsman during the second period of his activity in Rome 1605-08. The recto shows a full-length study of in Armour, with a skirt of mail. The man's left hand and invisible shoulder support the shaft of a lance or halberd. The position of his right elbow, thrust out by the gloved hand resting on his hip, creates an opportunity to display the hang of his cloak, lightly denoted in pencil, which is comparable to that found by Veronese for his St. Menna. Technically, in the handling of bistre with the point of a brush, sharpened by a few fine strokes with another instrument and made luminous by broader washes, the drawing of this military figure resembles not only Dr. Burchard's excellent drawing of a Woman Saint, 10) which has quite pro- perly been related to the St. Domitilla figure for the Chiesa Nuova commission, but also the study for the Standing Portrait of Brigida Spinola Doria, 11) both these female figures having been drawn by Rubens about 1606. The treatment of the head of the bearded model used for Professor Altena's drawing agrees well with that of the waiting woman who stood in for Brigida Spinola Doria and, which is in subject a more appropriate comparison, with that of the groom who sat to Rubens for the Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma 12 ) during the winter of 1603-04.

6) Rubens Kl. d. K. (1921 edn.) pl. 21. 7) R. Longhi, Vita Artistica I (1927), p. 191. X) G. Gliick and F. M. Haberditzl, Die Handzeichnungen von , Berlin (1928), No. 53. 9) See Figures 2 and 3, recto black pencil and a Chinese ink wash: verso pen and bistre wash. On white paper, 393 x 293 mm. Collections: De Clementi; Benno Geiger (No. 192, as by Morone); H. Oppenheimer (No. 569, as by Jan Stephen van Calcar). I am most grateful to Professor J. Q. van Regteren Altena for his per- mission to study and publish this sheet of drawings. The Morone and Calcar attributions may reflect a feeling for the quasi-Venetian nature of the principal figure. III) Catalogue of Tekeningen van P. P. Rubens, Rubenshuis, (1956), No. 26 (with illustration) gives full references. It is noteworthy that in this drawing the woman saint has her right hand, lightly suggested, supporting the pummel of a sword. This attribute appears nowhere else amongst the drawings or paintings con- nected expressly with the St. Domitilla figure. Similarly the lance or halberd supported by the Bearded Man in Armour does not appear anywhere with the St. Maurus figure. 11) See Fig. 4, Exhibition of Peter Paul Rubens Kt., Wildenstein's, London (1950), No. 55 (with illustra- tion). 12) See Fig. 5. Frits Lugt, Musée du Louvre. Inventaire Général des Dessins des Ecoles du Nord. Ecole Flamande. To II, Paris (1949), No. 1018, pl. XIX.

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