The Last Supper: P.14973-R

Current Location: In storage

Titles

The Last Supper

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Simon, John
Printmaker: Bolswert, Boëtius Adams (After)
Painter: Rubens, Peter Paul (After)

Entities

Description

After Boëtius Adams Bolswert's engraving after Rubens', The Last Supper, now attributed to 'Rubens and Workshop' (1631-2; Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan). Christ sits at a table, his twelve disciples gathered around him to left and right. There is a halo of light around his head and he looks upwards, his right hand blessing a loaf of bread held in his left hand. A goblet of wine stands at the centre of the table. Judas sits in the left foreground, the only figure to look out towards the spectator and away from Christ. The location is a baroque temple with solomonic columns and arches and a large curtain is draped above the central scene. An open book rests on a stand between two candles on a ledge at upper left with a view to open sky above.

Notes

History note: Ex. Collection Richard Bull (1725-1805). VanSittart gave 1,485 engravings to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1879 and this mezzotint was probably included within this group. The number written in pen and ink on the verso at upper centre and probably also that written in graphite in large script at the centre almost certainly relate to some kind of count by curators at the time of the acquisition.

Legal notes

Given by Augustus Arthur VanSittart, ?1879

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1879) by VanSittart, Augustus Arthur

Note

Mezzotint and etching, printed in black ink. Trimmed within the platemark. Richard Bull's mark written in pen and ink on the verso: 'R.Bull' (L.314). A VanSittart number, '930' written in pen and ink on the verso at upper centre. Inscribed on the verso in graphite in large script, '431' (see also P.14974-R, P.14975-R and Notes). Inscribed on the verso in pen and ink (curator's hand): 'Vansittart Collection'. This plate (printmaker unidentified) produced after Bolswert's engraving of Rubens' The Last Supper (c.1624-1633; see for example, BM: 1891,0414.621 and Notes) was probably produced during the mid-late eighteenth century and is possibly an impression of Schneevoogt's 222, which was published by French mezzotinter, John Simon (c.1675-1751). Other mezzotint plates of this subject exist from around this period, all of which, like this plate, do not reproduce the dog gnawing the bone below Judas's legs which is seen in the original composition. See for example, BM: 2010,7081.696, mezzotint and etching by unknown printmaker, published by Carington Bowles c.1784.

School or Style

French

Techniques used in production

Mezzotint
Etching

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.14973-R
Primary reference Number: 240021
Hollstein (Dutch/Flemish): 7 (Bolswert)
Lugt: 314
Lugt: L.2479ter
Voorhelm Schneevoogt: 37.222
Stable URI