Lot 4: f - ARENT VAN BOLTEN ZWOLLE CIRCA 1573 - BEFORE 1633 LEEUWARDEN A WITCH ADMIRING HERSELF IN A

f - ARENT VAN BOLTEN ZWOLLE CIRCA 1573 - BEFORE 1633 LEEUWARDEN A WITCH ADMIRING HERSELF IN A MIRROR

pen and brown ink and wash

CATALOGUE NOTE

Almost all of Van Bolten's known drawings are contained in one album of 425 studies, now in the British Museum. The drawings in the London album range from highly important and original designs for metalwork and ornament through genre subjects, religious studies, and scenes of diablerie, such as this. The drawings can be dated to circa 1595-1603. The present drawing is a version of one in the British Museum album; other examples exist of the artist making more than one version of a composition, and, given their imaginative and bizarre quality, it is not surprising they were highly popular in their time. For further information on the artist and the album, see Dawn of the Golden Age, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1993-4, pp. 301-2, 408-12.

150 by 188mm