Young Woman in Profile

c. 1613

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Artist, Flemish, 1577 - 1640

Lightly sketched with faint, silvery gray lines and areas of white chalk against tan-colored paper, the face, shoulder, and one arm of a young woman with smooth skin looks over her shoulder to our right in profile in this vertical drawing. She looks up through her eyelashes with her head tipped slightly away from us. She has a straight nose and parted, full lips. Wavy lines suggest hair framing her face and falling to her shoulders. Her hair may be tied with a ribbon that lies over her left shoulder, farther from us. A few strokes in white chalk suggest a puffed sleeve over that shoulder. The sleeve, drawn lightly with black chalk, is rolled back to her elbow, and her hand rests in front of her chest over a curve, though the object on which her fingers rest is not drawn. The paper has a few spots, marks, and small stains.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    black chalk heightened with white on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 37.5 x 25.1 cm (14 3/4 x 9 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1978.18.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Jonathan Richardson, Sr., London (1665-1745)(Lugt 2184); Charles Rogers, London (1711-1781)(Lugt 624). François Flameng, Paris (sale, Paris, Georges Petit Gallery, 26-27 May 1919, lot 87, pl. 53); private collection, Paris; Slatkin Galleries, New York; NGA purchase in 1978.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, pp. p. 64, repro (also ill. on cover).

1994

  • Flemish Drawings in the Age of Rubens: Selected Works from American Collections, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1994, no. 46, repro.

2004

  • Peter Paul Rubens: The Drawings, Albertina Museum, Vienna, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004-2005, no. 42, repro.

Bibliography

1963

  • Burchard, Ludwig, and Roger-A. d'Hulst. Rubens Drawings. 2 vols. Brussels, 1963: no. 111.

1978

  • Logan, Anne-Marie. Master Drawings XVI (1978), p. 449, fig. 12.

  • Logan, Anne-Marie and Egbert Havercamp-Begemann. "Dessins de Rubens." Revue de l'art 42 (1978): 92.

1984

  • Freedberg, David. Rubens: The Life of Christ after the Passion (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part VII). London, Oxford and New York ,1984: no. 37f, fig. 94.

1986

  • Balis, Arnout. Landscape and Hunting Scenes, II, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XVIII, Oxford, 1986: p. 257.

  • Held, Julius S. Rubens: Selected Drawings, Mt. Kisco, 1986: no. 78-79, figs. 86, 105.

Markings

recto: Jonathan Richardson, Sr. (Lugt 2184) and Charles Rogers (Lugt 624)

Wikidata ID

Q64632552

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