Lot 128: Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Peter Schmidt von Lichtenberg (1585-after 1620) Saint Jerome in the Wilderness signed and dated 'Petterschmidt Ao 1618' and with number '157' black chalk, pen and dark brown ink, brown and grey wash 16½ x 12 5/8 in. (41.6 x 32.1 cm.)

41.6 x 32.1 cm.

Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, Zeichnung in Deutschland: Deutsche Zeichner 1540-1640, exhib. cat., Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, 1979-80, II, no. O 12, p. 156 (catalogue by H. Geissler).

I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Jacques de Gheyn: An Introduction to the Study of his Drawings, Amsterdam, 1935, p. 112. [CHECK THIS] I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Jacques de Gheyn: Three Generations, The Hague, 1983, I, pp. 157-58, fig. 118.

I.Q. van Regteren Altena identified this drawing in his 1983 monograph as the work of an artist whom he named 'Johann Petterschmidt' and he suggested, on the basis of this striking drawing's style, that the artist may well have served an apprenticeship with Jacques de Gheyn II (circa 1565-1629). He further noted that the artist's birthplace of Lichtenberg can be deduced from the signature on a drawing in Saint Petersburg, which Heinrich Geissler had drawn to his attention (inv. 15653). Indeed, Geissler made further progress in identifiying Peter Schmidt and reconstructing his work, in the 1979-80 catalogue (op. cit. p. 155-6 and no. 011).