Lot 151: Aert Claesz., called Aertgen van Leyden (1498-1564)

The Adoration of the Shepherds with inscription 'Aertgen van Leyden' ( recto ) and 'van Aertgen' and another illegible inscription ( verso ) black chalk on light brown paper, pen and brown ink framing lines, fragmentary watermark calipers 95/8 x 71/2 in. (248 x 191 mm.) PROVENANCE Jacob de Vos (cf. L. 1450), according to an inscription 'De la Collection de M r. Jacob de Vos M b r e. de l'Inst t. & de l'Ac i e. R l e. des Arts … Amsterdam m t. 1833 Plus tard á M r. H.A.K r Conservateur au Mus‚e d'Amst m. Aart Klauszoon. dit Aartze van Leyden n‚ … Leyden in 1498 m t 1564.' on the mount. An unidentified collector's stamp 'FDGM' (not in Lugt), and number '46'. LITERATURE C. von Prybram-Gladona, Unbekannte Zeichnungen alter Meister aus europ„ischem Privatbesitz, Munich, 1969, no. 92, illustrated. NOTES By the same hand as a drawing from Franz Koenigs's Collection in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, reproduced by P. Wescher in 'Höllandische Zeichner zur Zeit des Lucas van Leiden', Oud Holland, 1928, XLV, p. 246, fig. 1. P. Wescher grouped that drawing along with others of similar technique around an artist he named Master of the Apostles' Miracles. Other drawings he attributed to this artist are in the Louvre (F. Lugt, MaŒtres des anciens Pays-Bas, n‚s avant 1550, Paris, 1968, nos. 98, 101), in Brunswick and in the British Museum. Eleven years later J.Q. van Regteren Altena published a large article in Oud Holland on Aertgen van Leyden where he gave the drawings attributed by Wescher to the Master of the Apostles' Miracles and the Master of 1527 (see previous lot) to Aertgen van Leyden. This attribution seems to be confirmed by the early inscription on the present drawing.