id: 131584 accession number: 1954.2.a share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.2.a updated: 2023-01-11 00:03:55.028000 The Feast of Herod (recto), c. 1637–1638. Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). Pen and brown ink, with black and red chalk, touched with white gouache ; sheet: 27.2 x 47.2 cm (10 11/16 x 18 9/16 in.); secondary support: 27.6 x 47.3 cm (10 7/8 x 18 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds 1954.2.a title: The Feast of Herod (recto) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1637–1638 creation date earliest: 1637 creation date latest: 1638 current location: creditline: Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds copyright: --- culture: Flanders, 17th century technique: pen and brown ink, with black and red chalk, touched with white gouache department: Drawings collection: DR - Flemish type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 27.2 x 47.2 cm (10 11/16 x 18 9/16 in.); Secondary Support: 27.6 x 47.3 cm (10 7/8 x 18 5/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: beige(2) laid paper, perimeter mounted to a false margin of beige(1) wove paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: by artist, upper center, in brown ink: de Herodias [wat hooger? (or: "meden hoofte," "wat hoegte," or "wat hogher")]; by artist, lower right, in brown ink: den[or: deze] stoel te [cort?]. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Tekeningen van P.P. Rubens opening date: 1956-06-16T04:00:00 Tekeningen van P.P. Rubens. Rubenshuis, Antwerpen, Belgium (June 16-September 25, 1956). title: Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). title: Old Master Prints and Drawings opening date: 1966-07-29T04:00:00 Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-April 1, 1967). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1967-06-09T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968). title: Drawings opening date: 1968-06-11T04:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). title: Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism opening date: 1980-02-19T05:00:00 Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980). title: Baroque Imagery opening date: 1984-11-06T05:00:00 Baroque Imagery. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 1984-January 6, 1985). title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00 Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). title: Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): The Drawings opening date: 2005-01-18T00:00:00 Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): The Drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (January 18-April 3, 2005). title: Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2014-03-09T00:00:00 Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Unidentified collector (Lugt 622, verso, lower right, in black ink, probably Austrian collection c. 1800); English private collection (According to Burchard and d'Hulst, Antwerp, 1956); [Herbert N. Bier]. Purchased by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1954. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The two stories that Rubens depicted on the front and back of this sheet of paper each feature a gruesome death, the result of revenge at the hands of a powerful woman. digital description: Peter Paul Rubens had a large studio in Antwerp and used drawing to prepare for large paintings as well as to direct the many pupils who assisted him. Striking in its immediacy, the drawing on the recto of this sheet of paper is a preparatory study for the Feast of Herod painting now at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Herod, wearing a large cap and wrapped in a mantle, shrinks back in horror as Salome uncovers a charger that holds the head of Saint John the Baptist. Smiling, Herodias grabs the platter with her left hand and, in a chilling detail, gestures toward the charger with a fork. Rubens wrote what is usually interpreted as “Herodias somewhat higher” at the top of the sheet. The verso of the sheet depicts a sketch for another story featuring a change of fortune at the hands of a vengeful woman, Tomyris with the Head of Cyrus. Rubens made two paintings of the subject (now in Paris and Boston). A rare theme, the story tells of Queen Tomyris who, avenging the death of her son in battle, collects the head of his murderer Cyrus in a bag of human blood. Tomyris is shown seated under a canopy holding a scepter, while the servants before her handle Cyrus’s head. Rubens wrote “plus spatij” (more space) in the center of the sheet. wall description: During the 17th century, drawings were indispensible in large studios. In addition to being preparatory for paintings, they were used by studio assistants to aid the master and were copied by pupils. Extremely cautious, Rubens guarded his drawings like studio secrets from competitors who could exploit them for their own compositions. Striking in its immediacy, this drawing is a preparatory study for a painting now at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Herod, wearing a large cap and wrapped in a mantle, shrinks back horror-struck as Salome uncovers a charger that holds the head of Saint John the Baptist. In the most chilling detail, Herodias, seated at the far side of the table, gestures toward the charger with a fork in her right hand. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Fogg Art Museum. Drawings & Oil Sketches by P.P. Rubens, from American Collections. Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; New York, NY: The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1956. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 25-26, no. 26, pl. 26 url: Burchard, Ludwig and Roger Adolf d' Hulst. Tekeningen van P.P. Rubens. Antwerpen: Uitgeverij Ontwikkeling, 1956. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 107-8, no. 131, pl. 59 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 588 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n110 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 119 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n143 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 119 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n143 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 154 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n174 Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 29-32 url: Logan, Anne-Marie S. Flemish Drawings in the Age of Rubens: Selected Works from American Collections. Wellesley, MA: Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, 1993. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 203-5, no. 58 url: DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. page number: Mentioned: P. 174-75, 294; Reproduced: P. 175, cat. no. 71 url: Logan, Anne-Marie S., and Michiel Plomp. Peter Paul Rubens: The Drawings. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 112, p. 300 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.2.a/1954.2.a_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.2.a/1954.2.a_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1954.2.a/1954.2.a_full.tif