Circle of Pieter Coecke van Aelst St Peter and St John healing the Lame Pen and brown ink PROVENANCE Professor Fritz Koreny identifies this vibrant Mannerist drawing with the circle of Pieter Coecke van Aelst and dates it to around 1540/1550. The subject, taken from The Acts of the Apostles, 3, 1-10, describes the Saints healing the afflicted on the steps of the Temple. Certain details from our drawing are closely linked to the inventions of Pieter and his followers. A drawing from his studio, The Punishment of Greed and Calumny in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris has a very similar composition with the figures grouped round a raised stage with columns behind. The same architectural motif appears in a drawing by Pieter of Gaius Fabritius rejecting the Treasures of Pyrrhus in the Institut Neerlandais, Paris. These examples also have similarly elongated, twisted figures, with fluttering hair, agitated gestures and richly draped garments. The pure outlining of the subject and the shape of the composition suggest this is a design for a stained-glass window. |
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