Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Antoine Triest, Bishop of Ghent;
Possibly Cornelis Vermeulen;
Pierre Crozat, bears his numbering, lower right: 24, 
his sale, Paris, Grands Augustins, 10 April 1741, lot 814, to Agar;
M. Brunet, until 1824-5;
Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (L.2445);
Samuel Woodburn,
his sale, London, Christie's, 4 June 1860, lot 801, to Nieuwenhuys;
J.C. Robinson, London;
Charles Duits, London;
thence by descent

London, The Lawrence Collection. 100 Drawings by Rubens, exhibition organised by Samuel Woodburn, May 1835, no. 9 (described as 'Triumphal procession of one of the caesars - with horses, figures of fame etc., executed Mantua on seeing the works of Giulio Romano...')
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, and Nottingham, Djanogly Art Gallery, Rubens, Drawing on Italy, 2002, (catalogue by Jeremy Wood), no. 36, reproduced and in colour p. 17, fig. 4

M. Rooses, 'Oeuvre de Rubens: Addenda et Corrigenda', Bulletin-Rubens (Annals de la Commission officielle instituée par le Conseil communal de la ville d'Anvers pour la publication des documents relatifs à la vie et aux oeuvres de Rubens, V, 1910, p. 198;
F. Lugt, Inventaire Général des dessins des Écoles du Nord, Ecole flamande, Paris 1949, vol. 2, p. 29, under no. 1081;
M. Jaffé, 'Rubens and Giulio Romano at Mantua', The Art Bulletin, XL, 1958, p. 326;
J.G. van Gelder, 'The Triumph of Scipio by Rubens.  P. Crozat sale (1741), lot 814', Duits Quarterly, no. VIII, 1965, pp. 5-20;
M. Jaffé, Rubens and Italy, Oxford 1977, p. 43;
B. Jestaz and R. Bacou, Jules Romain. L'Histoire de Scipion, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Grand Palais, 1978, p. 137, under no. XXII 2

Laid down. Primary support appears to consist of two sheets, joined vertically in the centre of the drawing. Some ridges and wrinkles along this join. Various minor repaired holes and tears, at edges and corners. Otherwise in very good, strong condition. Please note that this drawing is sold unframed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This lively and highly finished work is evidence of Rubens' pictorial and narrative talents and of his interest in the art of Italy, as well as of his ability to absorb another artist's work and transform it into his own.  An indefatigable draughtsman, Rubens seems here to have worked on top of a sixteenth century drawing from the school of Giulio Romano.¹  In his informative exhibition catalogue, Rubens Drawing on Italy, Jeremy Wood dedicates a chapter to Rubens and sixteenth century Italian art in which he writes of the large numbers of drawn copies by Rubens or retouched by him after Italian masters.²  The depth of Rubens' interest in very classical masters such as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Polidoro is fascinating, and the fact that he owned many copies after their works is highly revealing. By contrast, he possessed few drawings after Venetian masters, themselves very pictorial and less dedicated to a rigorous and classic artistic formation through disegno.  In the case of these artists, he was, instead, fascinated by their paintings, of which he made many painted copies, including the well-known series after the masterpieces by Titian that he saw in the Spanish Royal Collection.  It is not surprising at all, in view of Rubens' own painterly qualities, to see the extent of his debt to the Venetian painters, especially Titian. Rubens tried to learn from them all, and to absorb lessons from these very different personalities and their artistic skills. 

In the present sheet, Rubens has reworked what must have been a rather pedestrian copy of Giulio's composition. This would have appeared, before Rubens' embellishments, merely as a record of the splendour of a very successful and complex composition, which must have appealed to him.  But it would have been rather static and controlled, perhaps animated only by a veil of wash. Rubens totally transformed it, going over every line, changing the expressions of the majority, if not all, of the figures, and generously adding colourful and vibrant effects of light and shade with the use of grey, cream and white body colour, thereby giving a full baroque spirit to the entire composition.  It must have been a wonderful and satisfying experience to indulge in this extensive retouching.  Now when looking at the drawing one can only see the work of Rubens, while still perceiving the flavour of a more archaic composition. 

The drawing records a design, known from a drawn modello by Giulio Romano in the Louvre (inv. no. 3536), for one of a series of tapestries depicting episodes from the Life of Scipio Africanus, which were woven in 1532-35 for François I of France.³  Our sheet is almost identical in size and composition to the Louvre drawing, although in addition to the extensive retouching Rubens has also altered some details: for example, a second stem was added to the olive branch held by Scipio, and his sceptre has been embellished with an eagle.  The decoration of Scipio's chariot has also been enriched and the Tiber's headband replaced with a laurel wreath.  The Roman she-wolf was made to look more aggressive and several facial expressions have been accentuated, while the proportions of the horse in the foreground have been adjusted to a fuller, more modelled form. As Jeremy Wood observed, though, in his entry on the drawing in the Edinburgh exhibition catalogue, 'The greatest change...was the suggestion of a shimmering play of light on surfaces. His very delicate use of pigmentation gives the drawing a silvery sheen. The thickness of some of the most densely-worked highlights and the slight cracking on their surface suggest that he used oil to achieve the richest pictorial effect possible.'

Wood also noted that in 1601 Rubens bought quantities of drawings after Giulio Romano directly from the artist's studio.⁴  Identifying the present sheet as one of those Giulio studio copies, he describes it as: 'the most brilliant and extensively retouched.' On the basis of comparison with Rubens' oil sketches, Wood dates the grisaille-like retouching that we see here to the 1620s.⁵ Rubens had arrived in Mantua in 1601 at the beginning of his first Italian journey, and stayed there for some time at the behest of the Gonzaga family. His experience in Mantua and his exposure to the frescoes of Giulio Romano must have been of great significance to the young artist. The evidence of this drawing, reworked by Rubens long after he had left Mantua, illustrates how long-lasting the influence of Giulio's designs really was. But as Michael Jaffé observed: 'The designs remain Giulio's, yet marvellously converted to a new personality.'⁶  

1.  It should be noted that Anne-Marie Logan believes the underlying copy that Rubens has reworked here was made by a member of his studio, rather than an earlier Italian artist.
2.  See exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh 2002, pp. 13-17
3.  See F. Hartt, Giulio Romano, New Haven 1958, vol. I, p. 303, no. 265, reproduced vol. II, fig. 479
4.  See exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh 2002, p. 16
5.  Michael Jaffé suggested a later dating, in the mid-1630s (op. cit., 1977, p. 43).
6.  Jaffé, op. cit., 1977, p. 43