Lot 1142 Dα

This composition, style, and technique of this work combine typical characteristics of Abraham Bloemaert's drawings. However, no painting of his is known to have been carried out after this design. The piece can be grouped together with a number of drawings by this artist which van Bolten dates between 1590 and 1595 (op. cit., nos. 492, 524, 532, 561, 575, 559, 562, 627), some of which were later made into engravings by Jacob Matham. The motif of Cupid hiding under the bed appears again in Matham's engraving “Cupid and Psyche” made in 1607 after a lost drawing by Bloemaert (Roethlisberger op. cit., no. 102, illus. 177).