(1532-1603)
Christ before Caiphas, pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk, on laid paper, inscribed "M. de Vos.", 19 x 16,5 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collector’s mark "MM" (not with Lugt); collection Dr. Arthur Feldmann (1877-1941), Brno; 15th March 1939 seizure by the Gestapo; 1942 Acquisition through the Moravian Provincial Museum; 1962 Transfer to the Moravian Gallery, Brno; 2003 Restitution to the heirs after Dr. Arthur Feldmann.

The present drawing is a preliminary study for an engraving by Adriaen Collaert after Marten de Vos. The sheet shows "Christ before Caiphas" and may have been executed by an artist in the workshop of Marten de Vos. The drawing is a mirror-inverted depiction of the engraving. Drawing and engraving are different in the layout of the composition and in the position of the figures. The alteration of the head of Caiphas and of the man standing next to him at the left, who was added to the sheet on a separate strip of paper may indicate that the drawing may have been executed during the production process of the engraving; one can assume that the drawing was made shortly before the engraving was executed by an artist in the workshop of Marten de Vos.