Figure Studies

1565/1575

Bartholomaeus Spranger

Artist, Netherlandish, 1546 - 1611

Eight people and six horse heads are drawn in two rows with red and white chalk on tan-colored, horizontally oriented paper. Seven of the people are bearded and muscular. The eighth sits facing away from us, so the gender is unclear. The men twist, turn, bend over, and/or look up in different configurations across the sketches. Two horse heads are along the left edge of the sheet near the bottom corner, and the other four are spaced among the people in the bottom row. Most of the horses pull their chins back toward their powerful necks or twist their heads.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    red chalk and heightened with white on buff laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Benjamin and Lillian Hertzberg

  • Dimensions

    overall: 28.9 x 42.2 cm (11 3/8 x 16 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    2004.140.28


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

August Grahl, Dresden (Lugt 1199). (sale, Christie's London, 5 July 1983, no. 93 (as "attributed to Francesco Maffei). Benjamin and Lillian Hertzberg, New York; gift to NGA, 2004.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2008

  • Medieval to Modern: Recent Acquisitions of Drawings, Prints, and Illustrated Books, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, no. 11.

Bibliography

1992

  • Colnaghi, An Exhibition of Master Drawings. London, 1992: under no. 11.

1993

  • Gerzi, Teréz. "Italian Impulses in Newly Identified Drawings by Bartholomäus Spranger and Hans van Aachen." Nationalmuseum Bulletin 17, 1993: p. 30, note 1.

1998

  • P. & D. Colnaghi. Catalogue, Spring 1998: under no. 12.

Wikidata ID

Q64537141


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