THE DEATH OF PYRAMUS, early 17th century

Pen and bistre, washed with grey ink; light-brown paper stuck down onto a new cardboard mount; 157 x 115.
Prov.: From the Skarbek collection.
Old inv. no. 3665.

The drawing was originally linked with the German school. W. P. Buytewech's authorship was orally suggested by S. Rowland and later upheld by Ch. Dumas. The type of Pyramus' face is close to that of Tobias in Buytewech's drawing Young Tobias and the Angel in a private collection in the Hague (repr.: J. Van Tatenhove, Een Tobias - tekening door Willem Buytewech, "Delineavit et Sculpsit" Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Prenten Tekenkunst tot omstreeks 1850, 3 (1990), p. 14, pl.4), and the positioning of the body is reminiscent of Leander's corpse tossed by the waves in Jan van de Velde's engraving based on Buytewech's drawing (repr.: exhibition catalogue: Willem Buytewech, 1591-1624, Rotterdam 1974/75, no. 197, pl. 35).