DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Kozak, Anna; De Herdt, Jan [Ill.]: Jan de Herdt, a forgotten 17th century Flemish painter
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18902#0082
31. Artist unknown (17tli century), A Saint willi a Book, drawing, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe
ereate a school of his own, which would have been rather unlikely considering his artistic me-
diocrity, the drawings might have been executed under his influence, probably both by the
same artist.
The drawings St Agnes's Martyrdom, the Cloak Miracle (Fig. 13), St Agnes’s (?) Martyrdom
(Fig. 14), Holy Bishop Fed by the Birds (Fig. 15), and Holy Bishop Beheaded (Fig. 16), though
unsigned, are stylistically so close to Herdt’s oeuvre that there is much reason in attributing
them to him. The energetic, dynamie strokes, broad wash, a certain theatrical trait in the gestures,
the features depicted with a few lines, and the characteristic tapering fingers are the ąualities
that relate these drawings to the artist’s signed works. The technique is the same: pen and
wash upon pencil traces. The drawing St Agnes’s Martyrdom, the Cloak Miracle bears the same
watermark as the signed Crucifixion (a shield with keys surmounted by a mitrę and a crosier,
(Fig. 24) whereas St Agnes’s (?) Martyrdom—the same mark as the signed composition Flagellation
(a hunting-horn under a Shamrock and the łetters MP, Fig. 25). In the drawing Holy Bishop
Beheaded, we also have a watermark fragment featuring a hunting-horn. Only the drawing
Holy Bishop Fed by the Birds has a different watermark or a fragment of it, to be precise, a piece
of the letter W. Yet it bears so evident relation to the drawing Holy Bishop Beheaded — the two
compositions even have the same topping — that there should be no doubt about Herdt’s aut-
horship in this ease either. I think that Baudouin erred when he attributed them to C. de Crayer
(orał communication, 1963).
72
ereate a school of his own, which would have been rather unlikely considering his artistic me-
diocrity, the drawings might have been executed under his influence, probably both by the
same artist.
The drawings St Agnes's Martyrdom, the Cloak Miracle (Fig. 13), St Agnes’s (?) Martyrdom
(Fig. 14), Holy Bishop Fed by the Birds (Fig. 15), and Holy Bishop Beheaded (Fig. 16), though
unsigned, are stylistically so close to Herdt’s oeuvre that there is much reason in attributing
them to him. The energetic, dynamie strokes, broad wash, a certain theatrical trait in the gestures,
the features depicted with a few lines, and the characteristic tapering fingers are the ąualities
that relate these drawings to the artist’s signed works. The technique is the same: pen and
wash upon pencil traces. The drawing St Agnes’s Martyrdom, the Cloak Miracle bears the same
watermark as the signed Crucifixion (a shield with keys surmounted by a mitrę and a crosier,
(Fig. 24) whereas St Agnes’s (?) Martyrdom—the same mark as the signed composition Flagellation
(a hunting-horn under a Shamrock and the łetters MP, Fig. 25). In the drawing Holy Bishop
Beheaded, we also have a watermark fragment featuring a hunting-horn. Only the drawing
Holy Bishop Fed by the Birds has a different watermark or a fragment of it, to be precise, a piece
of the letter W. Yet it bears so evident relation to the drawing Holy Bishop Beheaded — the two
compositions even have the same topping — that there should be no doubt about Herdt’s aut-
horship in this ease either. I think that Baudouin erred when he attributed them to C. de Crayer
(orał communication, 1963).
72