Lot 5: GOTTHARD RINGGLI ZÜRICH 1575 - 1635

signed in brown ink, upper left edge: Gotthard Ringgli. f and dated in black ink, lower right: 1600; a further, illegible inscription, lower left edge

pen and black ink and brown, blue and pink wash. circular
Inv.nr. N 155

diameter 196 mm.

The Hague 2001, cat. no. 48, reproduced in colour, p. 154, fig. 28

Amsterdam/Dordrecht 1994-5, pp. 14, 17, reproduced p. 17, fig. 12

Unidentified collector's mark, IZ, verso (possibly L.1560a);
Bears indistinct collector's stamp in blue ink, to right of the date

Though the subject was formerly identified as St. John on the Island of Patmos, this drawing in fact represents an obscure episode in the book of Ezekiel, in which the prophet finds himself in a valley full of bones. The Lord speaks to him and tells him to command the bones to come back to life. This he does, and miraculously the bones reassemble into skeletons, regain their sinews and flesh, and turn once more into living people. The text is seen as prefiguring the resurrection of the dead at the time of the Last Judgement.

Ringgli worked as a painter and engraver in Bern and Zürich, but was most productive as a designer of stained glass roundels. The present drawing may well be a study for such a roundel. Three other, unsigned versions of the drawing are known: one, also dated 1600 and formerly attributed to Hendrick van Balen, is in the Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo (inv. nr. B 15741), another was sold London, Sotheby's, 22 November 1974, lot 120 (see The Hague 2001, both reproduced p. 94, figs. 48.1, 48.2), the third in Linz, Stadtmuseum Linz-Nordico (see E. Pokorny, Deutsche und Niederlandische Zeichnungen 16 und 17 Jahrhundert, Linz 1998, pp. 40-41, no. 13, reproduced).