Study for a sculpted altarpiece.

Drawing, pen and brown ink, grey and brown wash, 23,7 x 16,7 cm, laid paper, unsigned (paper sl. toned, old repaired tear at right edge, glue marks on verso).

Under passe-partout.

Two niches with clustered Corinthian columns flank a spectacular life-size sculpture group representing the ascencion of the figure into heaven. On the columns rests a heavy entablature, finished on top with decorative vases and a balcony. The whole structure stands within a rounded aedicula from which the Holy Spirit descends in a bright beam of light. The drawing is almost identical in style, rendering and architectural thinking as other attributed to Verbrugghe (1655-1724) drawings in the Antwerp Plantin-Moretus collection (former Van Herck collection); e.g.Verbrugghen's study sheet for the high-altar of the Abbey Church in Tongerlo (ca. 1698). Like other attributed sheets, our sheet also includes the small cross at the base of the altar.
Ref. S.n., "Drawings 17th and 18th century. The Van Herck collection", Brussels 2000, nos. 50, 51.