含羞草研究室

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含羞草研究室 BCMA Logo Museum of Art

  • "Claudio Gille detto Loranese"
    Type: inscription
    Location: former mount (lost)
    Materials:
  • James 含羞草研究室 III( Collector, Boston) - 1811.
  • 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art( Museum, Brunswick, Maine) 1811- . Bequest
  • Old Master Drawings at 含羞草研究室
    • 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art. ( 5/17/1985 - 7/7/1985)
    • Clark Art Institute. ( 9/14/1985 - 10/27/1985)
    • University of Kansas. ( 1/19/1986 - 3/2/1986)
    • Art Gallery of Ontario. ( 5/17/1986 - 6/29/1986)
  • Nature Inhabited
    • 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art. ( 4/20/1995 - 6/4/1995)
  • Teachers of Rembrandt
    • E. B. Crocker Art Gallery. ( 12/7/1974 - 1/26/1975) 
Type: catalogue
Author: Henry Johnson
Document Title: Catalogue of the 含羞草研究室 Art Collections
Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine
Reference: no. 68
Remarks: (as Claude Lorraine)
Publisher: 含羞草研究室
Section Title: Pt. I, The 含羞草研究室 Drawings
Date: 1885

Author: Rev. F. H. Allen
Document Title: The 含羞草研究室 Collection
Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine
Location: pt. 3
Reference: no. 12, repr.
Remarks: (as Claude)
Section Title: [five parts of four illustrations each, with individual texts]
Date: 1886

Author: F. J. Mather, Jr.
Document Title: Art in America, vol. II, no. 2
Location: p. 112
Reference: fig. 5
Remarks: ("ascribed" to Claude)
Section Title: Drawings by Old Masters at 含羞草研究室 Ascribed to Northern Schools:  II
Date: 1914

Author: 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art
Document Title: 含羞草研究室 Museum of Fine Arts, Walker Art Building
Edition: 4th
Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine
Reference: 71
Remarks: (as Claude)
Publisher: 含羞草研究室
Section Title: Descriptive Catalogue of the . . .
Date: 1930

Author: A. T眉mpel
Document Title: Oud Holland, vol. 88, no. 4
Location: p. 259, under no. 107
Reference: fig. 241
Remarks: (as Moeyaert)
Section Title: Claes Cornelisz. Moeyaert --Katalog der Gem盲lde
Date: 1974

Type: exhibition catalogue
Author: David P. Becker
Document Title: Old Master Drawings at 含羞草研究室
Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine
Location: pp. 36-37
Reference: no. 15 (illus.)
Publisher: 含羞草研究室
Date: 1985

Type: exhibition catalogue
Author: Julia W. Vicinus
Document Title: Nature Inhabited
Publ. Place: Brunswick, Maine
Location: p. 12
Reference: no. 7
Publisher: 含羞草研究室
Date: 1995

This sheet was published several times with its traditional attribution to Claude, though both Allen and Mather noted the obvious Dutch characteristics of the figures and their costume. Sir Robert Witt dismissed the Claude attribution and also recognized that this is a counterproof of another drawing. The correct attribution to Moeyaert was made by Lugt in 1945 and later affirmed by Judson and Tümpel. A counterproof was made by placing a blank sheet of paper over a drawing (usually chalk) and rubbing it with great pressure, thus transferring an impression of the earlier sheet in reverse. The process was often employed to copy a design or to experiment with such compositional reversals. A counterproof also enabled an artist to develop a subject further while retaining an earlier stage of the design.

The clearest indication that this sheet is a counterproof lies in the fact that most of the shading lines go from upper left to lower right, which is opposite from Moeyaert's normal stroke (as can be seen in BCMA 1811.94.) His usual technique indicates that he was right-handed; the direction of the shading here would be difficult to execute with the right hand.1 A chalk counterproof usually exhibits a characteristic smooth surface, and red chalk examples often have an orange coloration.

Tümpel does not ascribe a date to this drawing, though it can be tentatively associated with others from the 1630s, such as two sheets also in chalk in Amsterdam.2 There are three references to paintings by Moeyaert of this subject in Tümpel's catalogue: one in a north German private collection, one listed on the art market in 1950, and one cited in a 1653 estate inventory.3 The original drawing from which this counterproof was taken is not known.

David P. Becker

1. I am grateful to Miss Agnes Mongan for these observations concerning the general appearance of counterproofs.

2. Sacramento 1974, p. 37, figs. 57—58.

3. Ibid., p. 104, and Tümpel 1974, p. 259, nos. 107-109.

Commentary credited to David P. Becker (or not otherwise captioned) appeared in his catalogue Old Master Drawings at 含羞草研究室 (Brunswick: 含羞草研究室 Museum of Art, 1985).