Master JG

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Master JG
active 1522-1526
The Holy Family in a Court with Spiral Staircases
ca. 1525
Pen and brown ink and wash, on paper.
6 x 8 7/16 inches (153 x 214 mm)
Purchased as the gift of Walter C. Baker.
1952.1
Notes: 

Watermark: none visible through lining.
Lyon became a center for copperplate etching in the 1520s. A small group of three drawings, including one other sheet in the Morgan's collection (III, 66), and a sheet in the British Museum (1860,0616.53), and about forty prints, signed JG, have been associated with the name Jean de Gourmont since Pierre Jean Mariette first made the identification. But as has been noted, Gourmont died in 1522-23, and the one dated print we have by the artist was produced in 1526. More recently, it has been found that the only "JG" recorded in Lyon at the time was a goldsmith named Jacques Gauvain. There is no evidence to prove that Gauvin is the author of these works, and so they remain under the name of the Master JG.
Formerly attributed to Jean de Gourmont, Carquebut, Manche, ca. 1483- ca. 1551.

Inscription: 

Inscribed at lower center, "gradhamne", at lower right, "I di cor diduname" (?)

Provenance: 
André de Hevesy (b. 1882-d. after 1955), Brussels; Hans Maximilian Calmann (1899-1982), London.
Associated names: 

Gourmont, Jean de, active 1506-1522, Formerly attributed to.
Hevesy, André de, former owner.
Baker, Walter C., donor.

Bibliography: 

Adams, Frederick B., Jr. Third Annual Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1952, p. 63-64.
Pierpont Morgan Library. Review of Acquisitions, 1949-1968. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1969, p. 148.
Pierpont Morgan Library. Major Acquisitions of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1924-1974. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1974. Vol. 2: Drawings, no. 22.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 3.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993, no. 4, p. 12-13, repr.

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