with number ‘915’ and inscription ‘Diepenbeek Abraham van’/’Diepenbeeck 1997’ black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white (partly oxidized), brown ink framing lines, illegible watermark
19.8 x 17.2 cm
Provenance:
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 29 January 1997, lot 175, where acquired by;
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Beck (1930-2010), Augsburg (his mark verso, not in Lugt), and by descent.

Abraham van Diepenbeeck was born and raised in ‘s- Hertogenbosch and left for Antwerp in 1620 after his father, the glass painter Jan Roelofszoon, passed away. [1] Two years later, he joined the guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp as a master glass painter, producing numerous stained glass windows for the city’s churches and cloisters. From 1627 onwards, Diepenbeeck collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), creating a print design for a title page in that year, while other projects followed in the years after. [2] After Rubens’ death in 1640, the number of commissions for engravings that Van Diepenbeecks received increased significantly, reflecting his growing reputation as a draughtsman and print designer. [3]

Diepenbeeck was without doubt one of the most prolific draughtsmen from Rubens’ circle; over 500 sheets can be attributed to him today and, as Saskia van Altena recentlyobserved, Diepenbeeck’s ‘vast oeuvre arguably made him one of the most important artists responsible for the dissemination of the Flemish Baroque idiom, especially after Rubens’s death.’ [4] As with many of Diepenbeeck’s drawings, the present sheet is infused with Rubens’ style, although the figure of God the Father also seems to echo those by Italian baroque artists. Below the figure of God, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove carrying a twig, while putti are swirling around. At the lower half of the sheet we observe the Holy Family at right and Saint Dominic holding roseries at left. Behind Saint Dominic is his attribute; a dog holding a torch which refers to a dream that the Saint’s mother had before she bore her child. In it, she dreamed that a dog holding a torch jumped from her womb which set everything around them on fire.

The present drawing ranks among Diepenbeeck’s finest sheets, both in terms of execution and preservation. Drawn with particularly confident penwork, and enriched
with lavish wash and subtly applied highlights in white, the sheet could well have been intended as a presentation drawing for a commission. While no painting with the same composition is known, there is an anonymous engraving wich also shows Saint Dominic with the holy family of which an impression is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (fig. 1). [5] The engraving is in reverse to the drawing and there are many differences, but the figure of Saint Dominic is particularly close (albeit in reverse). It therefore seems plausible that the present sheet played some role in preparing the print.

That there was a strong demand for prints and drawings depicting the Dominican Saint, is attested by the fact that Diepenbeeck treated the subject in a number of drawings. A much smaller and sketchier drawing, also showing Saint Dominic and Mary and the Christ Child, is in the British Museum, London. [6] Another, much larger drawing showing Saint Dominic receiving a rosary from Mary, is in the Albertina, Vienna. [7] That drawing served as the design for a print by Cornelis Galle the Elder (1576-1650), of which an impression is also in the Albertina. [8] A drawing that was previously thought to depict Saint Dominic, but which has now correctly been identified as showing The Blessed Henry Suso Kneeling before Eternal Wisdom, is in the Harvard Art Museums, Boston. [9]




[1] D.W. Steadman, ‘Abraham van Diepenbeeck: Seventeenth-century Flemisch Painter’, Studies in baroque art history, no. 5 (1982) p. 1.
[2] S. van Altena, '"Rubens's most truthful follower": Abraham van Diepenbeeck as a
Draftsman', Master Drawings, vol. 58, no. 4 (Winter 2020), p. 493
[3] D.W. Steadman, op. cit., p. 31.
[4] ibid., p. 493.
[5] Inv. RP-P-OB-19.973.
[6] Inv. 1964,0613.7.
[7] Inv. 9434.
[8] Inventory number unknown, see folder number: H/II/39/31. 9 Inv. 2013.43.