Attributed to Michael Sweerts

This Plague of Athens is a reduced version of Sweerts' monumental work of the same title, formerly in the collection of Saul P. Steinberg1 and now in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.¹ That painting was not only among the last works Sweerts made in Rome, where he worked from 1646 until about 1654-1655, but may also have been commissioned by the Pamphilij, an idea proposed by Dr. Lara Yeager Crasselt. 

Although the present canvas is more generalized than the original, stylistically, it comes close to the hand of Sweerts—particularly in the rendering of light, shadow, and color—so much so that his possible authorship cannot be overlooked. The imitative nature of the underdrawing, primarily visible in the architectural elements and the figures, affirms that this canvas was made in the presence of the original.² Its existence may not only serve to underscore the importance of the original commission, but it may also offer some additional insight into the artist’s practice within his Roman studio. 

 We are grateful to Dr. Lara Yeager-Crasselt for her assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.

¹ Inv. no. (AC 1997.10.1), oil on canvas, 118.75 by 170.8 cm. Sold New York, Sotheby's, January 30, 1997, lot 34.

² Although underdrawing is rare in Sweerts’ oeuvre, another example by the artist in which underdrawing seems present is his Drawing School at the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem. This discovery was made by Kirsten Derks and is further discussed in her recent publication: https://going-south.rkdstudies.nl/9-scanning-michael-sweerts/ (see the section of "Sweerts' Use of Underdrawing.")