Jacob Jordaens

Overall condition good and fresh. Chalk in good, strong state. Bottom left corner backed with light paper. Light vertical crease towards right side. Small diagonal crease in top left corner. Very minor losses, top right corner and lower centre edge. Very lightly foxed throughout.
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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 imposing sheet is one of a very small number of similar study sheets by Jordaens in which he studies specific animals, on a large scale, surely from nature (the studies are accompanied by colour notes).  These drawings are characterised by great fluidity of line, combined with detailed description of the animals' coats, and of the light falling on them.  A very similarly executed study of two pigs, also with colour notes, is the Amsterdam Museum, and another, depicting a sitting bitch, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.¹  Both those drawings are connected with paintings of the mid-1630s, which also seems a plausible dating for the present drawing. 

1.  R.-A. d'Hulst, Jordaens Drawings, 4 vols., London/New York 1974, no. A107, fig. 119, and no. A119, fig. 130, respectively