pen and brown ink, grey wash, pen and brown ink framing lines
6.8 x 11.4 cm
Provenance:
Dr. Einar Perman (1893-1976), Stockholm, and by descent to the previous owners.

Exhibited:
Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden. Verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm,
1962, no. 121 (as Adriaen van de Venne).

David Vinckboons was born in Mechelen in 1576. [1] Three years later, the Vinckboons family moved to
Antwerp and after the fall of Antwerp they emigrated, first to Middelburg and, in 1586, to Amsterdam.
David was first taught by his father, the painter Philip Vinckeboons (1545-1601). In 1602, he married
the wealthy Agnieta van Loon; the couple was to have no less than 10 children. Vinckboons quickly
established himself as a successful painter in Amsterdam. Greatly influenced by Pieter Bruegel
the Elder (1526/1530-1569), he was instrumental in the development of genre painting in the
northern Netherlands. He specialized in elegant figures in park-like landscapes as well as kermesse
paintings and other village festivals. He ran a studio and taught a number of pupils, including Gillis
d’Hondecoeter (1575/1580-1638), Claes Jansz. Visscher (1586/1587-1652) and probably Esaias
van de Velde (1587-1630). Besides being a painter, Vinckboons was also active as a print designer,
finding a ready clientele amongst Amsterdam’s many book printers.

The present drawing, which comes from the collection of Einar Perman, was long erranously attributed
to Adriaen van de Venne (1590-1662) and was also exhibited as such in the exhibition of Perman’s
collection in the Singer Museum in Laren in 1962 (see exhibited). However, more recently the drawing
has been correctly attributed to Vinckboons on the basis of stylistic grounds. [2] Another drawing by
Vinckboons, previously also in the Perman collection, which is very close in terms of execution, style
and size, is now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. [3]

The drawing must be considered a primo pensiero for an engraving almost identical in size by Jacob
Matham (1571-1631) for Daniel Heinsius’ Nederduytsche poemata. dl. 3: Hymnus oft Lof-sanck van
Bacchus, Waerin’tgebruyck ende misbruyck vande Wijn beschreven wort, published in Amsterdam in
1616 by Willem Janssen Blaeu. [4] Both the drawing and the print depict Bacchus, surrounded
by his entourage of merrymakers and drinkers, encountering Ariadne on the island of Naxos, where
she was left by Theseus on his way back to Athens from Crete (his ship can be seen sailing away
in the background). Bacchus was stricken by her beauty and ended up marrying her. The fact that,
despite the many similarities between the print and the drawing, there are also significant differences
suggests that there must have been a further, final design for the print, which now appears to have
been lost. Only one other drawing for the series appears to have survived; a drawing showing The
Death of Ampelos, which given its close relationship to the print must be the final design for it, is now
in the Prentenkabinet, Leiden. [5]


[1] K. Ertz and C. Nitze-Ert, David Vinckboons. 1576-1632. Flämische Maler im Umkreis der Grossen Meister. Band
10, Lingen, 2016, p. 8.
[2] See G. Rubinstein in; Sotheby’s, New York, 31 January 2024, lot 104 and E.P. Löffler, hand written note in;
Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden. Verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, 1962, no. 121.
[3] See exhib. cat., Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden. Verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, 1962, no. 122 and Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, inv. 12130.
[4] See The New Hollstein 279 (Jacob Matham).
[5] W. Wegner and H. Pée, ‘Die Zeichnungen des David Vinckboons’, Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst, 1980, no. 59, ill.; inv. PK-T-AW-53.