Attributed to Jacques Bellange

Eugène Rodrigues (1853-1920), Paris (L.897);

with Richard Ederheimer, New York, by 1913 (as Martin Fréminet);

sale, Amsterdam, A.W.M. Mensing, 6 July 1927 (Collections of Bellingham-Smith, Comte Robiano et al), lot 181 (as Willem Buytewech);

with Hans Calmann, London;

with Slatkin Galleries, New York, by 1957,

where acquired by Winslow and Anna Ames, Saunderstown, Rhode Island (L.2602a),

thence by descent

A. Mongan, De Clouet à Matisse: Dessins français des collections américaines, exhib. cat., Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 1958, under cat. no. 26 (as Georges Lallemand);

O. Perrin, Médecine de France, no. 97, 1958 (as Georges Lallemand);

J. Thuillier, Jacques Bellange, exhib. cat., Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 2001, p. 346, (as 'L'ésprit est très proche de celui de Sainty-Igny' and with incorrect dimensions)

Executed in finely preserved black chalk, this accomplished drawing has, as noted by its previous owner, Winslow Ames (see Provenance), flirted with a number of attributions during the course of the 20^th century. Though attributed to Georges Lallemand (c.1580-1636) by Peter Arms Wick, curator of prints and drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (see Literature), Richard Ederheimer had previously thought it closer to Martin Fréminet (1567-1619), and in 1927 it was sold, rather suprisingly, as the work of Willem Buytewech (1591-1624). In more recent times Jacques Thuillier listed the drawing amongst those he rejected from Bellange’s oeuvre, though based on the low quality black and white image and limited information in his entry (including incorrect measurements and partially correct media (see Literature) one must treat his brief comments around the Ames drawing – 'close in spirit to (Jean de) Saint-Igny' (c.1595/1600-1647) – with caution. Indeed, the back and forth around these various questions of attribution, and the very differences that they imply, seem always to lead us back to Bellange - both on stylistic grounds and through elements of fashion found in the present work, which are consistent with the years 1600-1615 - and the most recent scholars of French drawings of this period are increasingly inclined to accept the atribution to Bellange.

The Ames drawing depicts five men, three of whom are seated, holding tall beer flutes of a type used in Lorraine, the Germanic world and in the Netherlands. To the left of the composition a fourth member of the group enters the scene, gesturing towards his friends and the table at which he will soon be seated. Behind him is a servant who looks to be hastily filling a glass for the most recent arrival to this convivial gathering. The men are wearing the small shoes with low heels close to the arch of the foot, laced with ribbons, that we see in some of Bellange's drawings, such as those at the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick¹ where, in addition, we can see, in the background of the second sheet, a man who, in his dress and physiognomy, closely resembles the drinker seated in the center of the Ames drawing. There are other idiosyncrasies in the handling of our drawing which appear to convincingly point towards Bellange’s authorship, including the tapering silhouette of the standing young man, which reduces from the puffy top-dress with large pleats to the narrowness of the shoulders. The curly, thick hair, with large, flowing and emphatic locks as well as the highly distinctive manner in which the hands are drawn, which can be closely compared, for example, to those in Bellange’s etching of Saint Matthew² are also very characteristic. Finally, the loosely sketched face of the servant, in the background, contains a certain feline quality that features so unmistakably in Bellange’s work, with comparable examples of this treatment found in his The Adoration of the Shepherds in Boston³ and The Holy Family with Saints Anne and Madeleine at Yale.⁴

Though there are no firmly attributed paintings by Bellange it is tempting, if somewhat speculative, to propose that the present drawing might in some way be seen as a study for a painting attributed to Bellange that appeared in the sale of the Heinecken collection in 1758.⁵ In his important 2001 exhibition catalogue, Thuillier cites that work as a drawing, but the original sale catalogue clearly describes the technique of the picture – Un autre Tableau, où l'on voit / plusieurs personnes à table peint / sur toile – as well as that of the preceding two lots, also given to Bellange and similarly peint sur toile. Interestingly the dimensions of the lot are given as onze pouces de haut, sur seize de large, which loosely translates to the dimensions of the Ames drawing, though without a more detailed description of the painting, or its reappearance, we will never be certain about this hypothetical connection. What is certain, however, is that the reappearance of the present drawing, unseen on the market for over 65 years, provides a rare opportunity for both collectors and scholars of this early, fascinating period of French drawing.

¹Thuillier, Jacques Bellange, exhib. cat., op. cit., 2001, pp. 164-5, no. 27, reproduced

²Ibid., pp. 166 and 175, no. 28/13, reproduced

³Ibid., pp. 152-3, no. 22, reproduced

⁴Ibid., pp. 159-9, no. 25, reproduced

⁵Ibid., p. 304,