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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2002.292
People
Joachim Wtewael, Dutch (Utrecht, Netherlands 1566 - 1638 Utrecht, Netherlands)
Title
Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1606-1610
Culture
Dutch
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/293926

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink, gray wash and white opaque watercolor over black chalk on cream antique laid paper; patch: greenish gray wash, black chalk, brown ink, and a combination of darker brown ink and opaque watercolor to conceal join
Dimensions
20.3 x 15.4 cm (8 x 6 1/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: mount, verso, right center, graphite: 5 [underlined]
  • inscription: mount, verso, left center, graphite: Bartolomeo Spranger [underlined]
  • inscription: mount, verso, lower right, graphite: l. 15.4 / h. 20.3
  • inscription: mount, verso, lower center, graphite: Ecole allemande? [crossed out] 16e siecle
  • inscription: mount, verso, lower center, graphite: (Mars et Venus)
  • watermark: none visible

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Private Collection, Europe. [Christie's, Amsterdam, 12 November, 1990, lot 54].[Christie's, Amsterdam, 13 November 13, 1995, lot 64], sold; to [Vermeer Associates Limited, Brampton, Ontario], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2002

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Purchase from the Kate, Maurice R., and Melvin R. Seiden Special Purchase Fund in honor of James Cuno, Seymour Slive and William Robinson
Accession Year
2002
Object Number
2002.292
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
A small piece of the design has been filled in in the lower half of the figures of Mars and Venus, presumably by a modest collector.

Publication History

  • Anne W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael: Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan, Getty Museum Studies on Art (Malibu, CA, 1995), p. 21, fig. 19
  • Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1997), p. 276, under cat. no. 47
  • James Clifton, Liesbeth M. Helmus, Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Stijn Alsteens, and Anne W. Lowenthal, Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael, exh. cat., ed. James Clifton, Liesbeth M. Helmus, and Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C., 2015), p. 20, fig. 3

Subjects and Contexts

  • Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu