St Francis of Assisi and St Bernard of Clairvaux.

2 drawings, pen and brown ink with brown wash, framing lines in brown ink, 14 x 9 cm, laid paper with unidentified partial watermark, unsigned (trimmed to framing line, minor creases).

Under one passe-partout.

Very nice drawings of the founders of major monastic orders. They are most likely design drawings for prints, given the inversed letters of the Christ monogram in the drawing of St Bernard, and St Francis lifts his left hand instead of the more usual right hand. At a previous sale these two sheets were attributed to Pieter I de Jode (1573-1634), though no corresponding engraving has been found in his printed work. Similar in style to the sheets of saints designed for the Holy calendar by Pieter de Jode, now in the collection of the British Museum (inv. 1871,1209.994).
Prov. Hans Van Leeuwen (1911-2020), conductor of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (coll. stamp verso Lugt 2799a). - Christie's sale 13/11/1995, no. 90.