Jacob Jordaens

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Jacob Jordaens

1593-1678

"Except ye be ... as little children": Matthew 18:3

Pen and brown ink, red chalk, over black chalk, brown wash, on laid paper; several small touches of opaque white on Christ's robe and hand; traces of artist's framing line in black chalk.

7 1/4 x 6 5/16 inches (185 x 160 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 238

Inscription:

Inscribed below the drawing by the artist, in brown ink, "[Ma]tt 18/1 - Het En sy dat ghy Rycke der Hemelen ontfa[nkt] / als Een Kindeken soo en suldt ghy daer niet In Comen" (a free rendering of Matthew 18:3: "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven"); within the design at lower left, in another hand in black chalk, partially retraced with brown ink, "Jordaens". On verso, at lower left, in graphite, "6"; at lower right, in graphite, "12"; and in brown ink, "40".

Provenance:

Henry Reveley (no mark; see Lugt 1356); his sale, London, Christie's, 11-12 May 1852, lot 140 (to Bale with lot 139 for £0.14.0); Charles Sackville Bale (according to Fairfax Murray; no mark; see Lugt 640); his sale, London, Christie's, 9 June 1881, lot 2332 (to Butler for £0.16.0); Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Bibliography:

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 238.
Stampfle, Felice, with the assistance of Ruth S. Kraemer and Jane Shoaf Turner. Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries and Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1991, p. 132, no. 286, repr.

Notes:

Watermark: none.

Associated names:

Reveley, Henry, 1737-1798, former owner.
Bale, Charles Sackville, 1791-1880, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

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