This extremely rare intact drawing-book was first recorded in the art market in 1916. It’s earlier provenance is unknown, but the cover bears the mark (Lugt 737) of an anonymous collector, whose collection was acquired by Don Livio Odescalchi around 1700. It was bought from descendants of Franz Koenigs (1881-1941), whose famous collection of over two thousand drawings is one of the museum’s treasures. The pocket-size volume contains 48 numbered parchment leaves. It was first used around 1490-1510 to make coloured model drawings of animals, insects and plants on alternate openings, leaving at least half of the pages empty. Some time later on, in the second or third quarter of the sixteenth century, the precious booklet was further enriched by another draughtsman, who added landscapes and other representations with pen and brown ink on most of the empty pages. [ text: Albert Elen 2022 ]
Scroll down for the full entry in the online catalogue of Italian drawings 1400-1600
Specifications
| Title | The Koenigs Drawing Book |
|---|---|
| Material and technique | Leadpoint, pen and gray brown ink, watercolour and bodycolour on parchment (draughtsman 1), pen and brown ink on parchment (draughtsman 2\) |
| Object type |
Drawing
> Two-dimensional object
> Art object
|
| Location | This object is travelling |
| Dimensions |
Height 121 mm Width 75 mm Thickness 15 mm |
|---|---|
| Artists |
Draughtsman:
Anoniem
|
| Accession number | St 331 1-50 |
| Credits | Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 2016 |
| Department | Drawings & Prints |
| Acquisition date | 2016 |
| Creation date | in circa 1490-1510 |
| Inscriptions | ‘libro di Durelli Giacomo’ (first pastedown, pen and brown ink), '1631 / Opere dal Sign. Antonio / Borri’ (first flyleaf, pen and brown ink), ‘G. DURELLI. fecit.' (fol. 49r, middle right., pen and brown ink), 'W[...]' (front cover, pen and brown ink), '[...]' (front cover, pen and brown ink, in a drawn rectangle) |
| Collector | Collector / Franz Koenigs |
| Mark | S. Durelli (L.737) |
| Provenance | Antiquarian Jacques Rosenthal, Munich (1916, stock cat. LXXVI, no. 51, pl. XII); Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1916-30; his daughter Christine van der Waals-Koenigs(1915-95), Heemstede, on loan to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (1982-2001), her heirs; purchased in 2016 |
| Exhibitions | Rotterdam (Around Fra Bartolommeo) 2016; Rotterdam 2022, no. 15 |
| Internal exhibitions |
Rondom Fra Bartolommeo (2016) |
| Research |
Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600 |
| Literature | Rosenthal 1916, no. 51, pl. 12; Van Regteren Altena, 1966, pp. 28-29; Elen 1993, pp. 208, 221, n. 48; Elen 1995, no. 24; Recent acquisitions 2021, pp. 8-9, no. 20, ill.; Rotterdam 2022, no. 15, ill. |
| Material | |
| Object | |
| Geographical origin | Italy > Southern Europe > Europe |
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