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Satyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, London

ca. 1599
Not on view
This drawing is a rare and outstanding example of Joseph Heintz the Elder's mature and most elaborate drawing style. Related to one of Heintz's most important paintings, made in 1599, probably for Emperor Rudolf II (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), the sheet is typical of the work of artists active at Rudolf's Prague court, who favored complex compositions with many figures in distorted positions and mythological subjects, often of a slightly lascivious nature. Combining fluent yet expressive pen lines, carefully applied heightening with white body color, red chalk, and washes, Heintz masterfully succeeded in adapting his composition to an oval form. Although there seems to be no direct literary source for the subject of this drawing and the corresponding painting, it has been connected to the story of Pan and Syrinx in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Satyrs and Nymphs; verso: partial counterproof of Heintz's "Studies for the Flight into Egypt" in The Courtauld Gallery, London
  • Artist: Joseph Heintz the Elder (Swiss, Basel 1564–1609 Prague)
  • Date: ca. 1599
  • Medium: Brush and black ink, red chalk, gray and sanguine washes, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk and graphite underdrawing, incised, on off-white paper prepared with yellow wash, laid down to another sheet of laid paper; verso of secondary support: partial offset of a drawing in black and red chalk
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 9 1/4 x 12 5/8 in. (23.5 x 32 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, 2006 Benefit Fund, 2007
  • Object Number: 2007.174
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The Sense of Hearing, Joseph Heintz the Elder Swiss, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash. Touches of gray wash. Framing lines in pen and brown.
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Figures Adoring a Statue of the "Magna Mater", Joseph Heintz the Elder Swiss, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray-brown wash, heightened with white
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Madonna and Child with Mary Magdalen, Joseph Heintz the Elder Swiss, Black and red chalk
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The Resurrection of Christ, Joseph Heintz the Elder Swiss, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white over graphite or black chalk, on paper toned with transparent brown wash; framing lines in graphite at left and top edges
The Resurrection of Christ
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