Lot 3: Lucas Franchoys II (Mechelen 1616-1681)

Lucas Franchoys II (Mechelen 1616-1681)
Saint Jerome reading
black and white chalk, black chalk borderlines, partial watermark device
5¾ x 3 7/8 in. (144 x 98 mm.)

A.-M. Logan, Flemish Drawings in the Age of Rubens: selected works from American collections, exhib. cat., Wellesley, Davis Museum and Cultural Center and elsewhere, 1993, pp. 33, 44, 160, under no. 22, fig. III A
C. Depauw and G. Luijten, Anthony van Dyck as a printmaker, Amsterdam, 1999, pp. 342-5 fig. 4, under no. 48.

The etching (fig. 1) is inscribed 'A.V.Dijck/L. Francoys fe' indicating that it is based upon a work by Anthony Van Dyck. Van Dyck did several compositions of this subject. In a 1682 inventory of Franchoys estate a painting of Saint Jerome by Van Dyck is mentioned. Franchoys repeated this figure in another etching of A satyr playing a flute for a group of dancing putti (Depauw and Luijten, pp. 344-45).