Sir Peter Paul RUBENS (1577-1640), authentic drawing Start Price USD 27,500.00 Current Price USD 27,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Monday, October 06, 2008 End Time Thursday, October 16, 2008 Location Roosdaal See more about 'Sir Peter Paul RUBENS (1577-1640), authentic drawing' Description Fully authenticated drawing by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)   The Coronation of the Virgin (Preparatory drawing for one of the ceiling paintings of the Jesuit Church in Antwerp)   -          Ink on brown paper -          20 x 16.5 cm (7.9 by 6.5 in.) -          Created in 1620 -          Inscribed on the reverse in French: “Je certifie que ce dessin est de P. P. Rubens. Il a été exécuté par le maître pour une décoration de l’église des jésuites à Anvers, peintures détruites par un incendie en 1718. L’esquisse peinte de cette composition est conservée au Louvre, dans la collection Lacaze. E. Bénézit. Ce dessin a été acheté par moi en 1914 à Mr. Le Marquis de Baille.” -          Unframed -          In very good condition. -          The drawing is fully authenticated and comes with a full provenance and authentication report. -          Provenance: - Collection du Marquis de Baille, France (avant 1914) - Emmanuel Bénézit (1854-1920) - Private collection, Belgium - Sale, Monsantic Auction House, Mons (Belgium), December 7th 2003, lot number 6.   The Rubens drawing was originally authenticated in 1914 by the famous French art dealer and founder of the "Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays, par un groupe d'écrivains spécialistes français et étrangers" (see www.benezit.com ), Mr. Emmanuel Bénézit (1854-1920), who acquired the drawing in the same year. He had acquired it from the Marquis de Baille in France, a french noble family with very old roots. We can assume that this preparatory drawing was acquired by this french family after 1773, the year when the Jesuits order was discontinued en when several sketches and paintings by Rubens were sold. Two important Rubens paintings in the Carolus Borromeus church "St.-Ignatius" and "St.-Franciscus Xaverius" were also sold in 1773. We know that there are still some Rubens sketches in the archives of the Carolus Borromeus Church today (mostly architectural drawings and preparatory sketches), but we do not know why some have been sold and others not (Mr. Emmanuel Bénézit has authenticated the drawing on it's reverse). More recently, the drawing was re-authenticated by Mr. Daniël Otten, former President of the Belgian Association of Antique Dealers and Mrs. Kristel Bosko, expert and historicus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.).The drawing was sold by the Belgian auction house Monsantic in 2003 ('Couronnement Celeste' was the french title of the Rubens drawing). It was the highlight of an anonymous sale on December 7th 2003.  In Antwerp, we could find a scientific publication by Mr. John Rupert Martin, emminent Rubens expert who wrote a book about the ceiling paintings in the Carolus Borromeus Church ("The Ceiling Paintings for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, Arcade Press, Brussels, 1968) who studied the original contract between Rubens and the Jesuits for realizing the ceiling paintings. "The Coronation of the Virgin" as one of the ceiling paintings was not in the original contract. The contract stipulated that Rubens had to create all of the preparatory sketches for the ceiling paintings himself, the paintings themselves could be created by Sir Anthony Van Dyck or other of his pupils. It is not known for sure why The Coronation was later added to the contract. Anyway, according to Mr. John Rupert Martin, three preparatory works by Rubens for the Coronation were known in 1968, all of them are oil on panel (two modello's - one of them in the Louvre Museum - and one grisaille sketch), the preparatory drawing could not be located and was assumed to be destroyed (or missing). It is the only excisting preparatory drawing of The Coronation by Rubens and thus not a copy by another (unidentified) artist.   A copy of the contract between Rubens and the Jesuits (as written in Mr. John Rupert Martin's book), as well as a description of the other preparatory studies for The Coronation will be included in the sale of this drawing.           Place a Bid!