A Dialogue on Human Favor (recto) [fol. 15 verso / 16 recto]

1512/1514

French early 16th Century

Associated Names
French early 16th Century

Artist

This is a drawing of an assembly of allegorical figures. The figures are labeled with Latin words representing virtues, vices, or societal roles. The composition includes elements like garments, figures, and scrolls with textures and shading to highlight materials and expressions.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown and black ink, heightened with gold on two joined sheets of laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Woodner Collection, Gift of Andrea Woodner

  • Dimensions

    overall: 16.3 x 21.4 cm (6 7/16 x 8 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2006.11.34.a

  • Series Title

    Speculum principis (Mirror for Princes)

Associated Artworks

This is a drawing of a human figure grappling with a canine creature. The drawing depicts a nude figure, with flowing hair, engaged in a struggle with an upright, wolf-like animal on a small piece of ground surrounded by shrub-like forms. The lines are delicate and precise, indicating careful attention to anatomical detail and proportion. The background consists of faint text showing through from the reverse side, which seems to suggest that this is a page from an old illustrated manuscript or book.

"I Am Holding a Wolf by the Ears" (verso)

French early 16th Century

1512

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 July 1937, lot 64); (sale, London, Sotheby's, 15-17 November 1937, lot 546); (sale, London, Maggs Bros., Ltd., catalogue 709, 1941, no. 30); (purchased by William H. Schab Gallery via Paul Graupe); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, by 1973; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1973

  • Woodner Collection II: Old Master Drawings from the XV to the XVIII Century, William H. Schab Gallery, New York and tour, 1973-74, no. 3 (illustrated) and 4 (verso).

2006

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007.

2009

  • Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009, 20-21, no. 2b (color).

2011

  • Kings, Queens, and Couriers: Art in Early Renaissance France. Art Institute of Chicago, 2011, no. 98 (color)(entry by Martha Wolff).

2017

  • The Woodner Collections: Master Drawings from Seven Centuries, NGA, 2017.

Bibliography

1941

  • Maggs Brothers. French Books and Prints, Incunabula, Bibles, and Bindings. Catalogue no. 709. London, 1941: no. 30.

1942

  • Saxl, Fritz. "A Spiritual Encyclopedia of the Later Middle Ages." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes_ 5 (1942): 82-134.

1974

  • Butler, Joseph T. "Old Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection II." Connoisseur 186 (1974): 56-57.

1983

  • Massing, Jean Michel. "The Influence of Erasmus: Text and image in a French pre-emblematic manuscript." Manuscripts in the Fifty Years after the Invention of Printing (Colloquium Paper at the Warburg Institute) 1983: 75-82.

1987

  • Massing, Jean Michel. "The Illustrations of Lucian's Imago Vitae Aulicae." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. 50 (1987): 215-16.

1990

  • Massing, Jean Michel. Du texte à l'image. La Calomnie d'Apelle et son iconographie. Strasbourg, 1990: 48, 67, 81, 93, 284-285, no. 8A, pl. 8A.

1994

  • Colenbrander, H.Th. "Een serie tekeningen naar Erasmus' Adagia: Jean Perréal, de Maître aux Pieds-Bots en de Meester van de Legende van de H. Egidius." in Boeken in de late Middeleeuwen. Hermans and van der Hoek, eds. Groningen, 1994: 211-220, repr212.

1995

  • Massing, Jean Michel. Erasmian Wit and Proverbial Wisdom. An Illustrated Moral Compendium for François 1er. London, 1995: 80 (verso), 81-82, reprod. 151 (verso), 152-153 (recto).

Inscriptions

The figures labeled in pen and brown ink from left to right: Libido, Legum Codex:, Honor:, Fastus:, Opulentia:, Fuor:, Assentatio:, Inuidia:; and inscribed above the figure of Favor in four separate discs: Fortuna, Casus:, Forma:, Dotes/Animi

Watermarks

Briquet 13542

Wikidata ID

Q64570816

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