Henricus-Franciscus Verbrugghen Sold at Auction Prices

STUDY FOR A SCULPTED ALTARPIECE.

Drawing, pen and brown ink, grey and brown wash, 23,7 x 16,7 cm, laid paper, unsigned (paper sl. toned, old repaired tear at right edge, glue marks on verso). - Two niches with clustered Corinthian columns flank a spectacular life-size sculpture group representing the ascencion of the figure into heaven. On the columns rests a heavy entablature, finished on top with decorative vases and a balcony. The whole structure stands within a rounded aedicula from which the Holy Spirit descends in a bright beam of light. The drawing is almost identical in style, rendering and architectural thinking as other attributed to Verbrugghe (1655-1724) drawings in the Antwerp Plantin-Moretus collection (former Van Herck collection); e.g.Verbrugghen's study sheet for the high-altar of the Abbey Church in Tongerlo (ca. 1698). Like other attributed sheets, our sheet also includes the small cross at the base of the altar. - Ref. S.n., "Drawings 17th and 18th century. The Van Herck collection", Brussels 2000, nos. 50, 51.