FLEMISH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1600 | Studies of five elegant figures, walking

Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm

Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden, Verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, 1962, no. 70 (as Master of the Hermitage Sketchbook)

Brown stain, lower left corner. Another at extreme top right edge. Remains of old glue and hinge along top edge, verso. Some light surface dirt, but overall condition good.
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This sheet of studies is one of a number by the same hand, depicting similar, elegant figures, drawn in the same distinctive indigo wash.  At least two others were formerly with this one in the Perman collection (nos. 69 and 71 in the 1962 exhibition catalogue¹), and further examples are in Berlin, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf, London, Munich, and other public collections.  In the Perman Collection, these drawings were given to the Master of the Hermitage Sketchbook, and attribution suggested by K.G. Boon and Miss L. Frerichs.  They have also been attributed to a variety of other artists, including David Vinckboons, Denijs van Alsloot and Adam van Breen, and it has also been suggested that they may relate to the festivities for the entry of Albert and Isabella into Antwerp in 1602, which was commemorated in the book of Johannes Bochius, with plates engraved by Petrus van den Borcht.   ^1. See also lots 47, 62 and 67 in the sale of the Perman Collection, Amsterdam, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 9 June 1975; although the catalogue entries for lots 47 & 67 identify those drawings with nos. 70 and 69 respectively in the 1962 Laren exhibition, the measurements and descriptions do not match, raising the possibility that there may originally have been as many as six of these drawings in the Perman Collection.