FOLLOWER OF SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS | Study of a black woman wearing a cap

Sir Robert Henry Edward Abdy, 5th Bt. (1896–1976), London and Paris;

Thence by inheritance.

This painting is closely related to two drawings connected with Rubens and his circle, which depict the same model wearing the same cap. The first is a black chalk study attributed to Rubens in full, in a private collection in Paris, formerly owner by Alfred Normand.¹ It depicts the woman's head in profile, inclined at an angle towards the viewer, looking out to the left of the picture frame, as in the present work. The second drawing is executed in bodycolour, heightened with white over black chalk, attributed to Rubens' circle, in the British Museum, London (inv. no. 1897,0410.13).² In that drawing, the model has a slightly softer expression, with her head tilted to a different position again.

1 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/262468

2 http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=709256&partId=1&searchText=black+woman&page=1