Provenance
1François-Xavier de Burtin Brussels • until 1802 Allmuth Schuttwolf, «Ernst II. als Förderer Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbeins, Ernst II. als Gemäldesammler», in Die Gothaer Residenz zur Zeit Herzog Ernsts II. von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg (1772–1804), (Ausst.kat.) Museum Friedrichstein, Gotha 2004, p. 9.
2Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Castle Friedenstein • Gotha • 1802–[d.] 1804 Acquired from the above, together with 3 other oil sketches by Rubens for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, Schuttwolf, as above (n. 1).
3The Dukes of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Castle Friedenstein • Gotha • until 1825 By inheritance.
4The Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Castle Friedenstein • Gotha (until 1928, then Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha'sche Stiftung für Kunst und Wissenschaft • from 1879 until 1945 on deposit at Herzogliches Museum • Gotha) By inheritance; Duke Carl Eduard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was forced into abdication in 1918, but remained the owner of the art collection in Gotha until 1928, when it was turned into a foundation monitored by the State of Thuringia, Allmuth Schuttwolf, Verlustdokumentation der Gothaer Kunstsammlungen, Bd. 2, Die Gemäldesammlung, Gotha 2011, pp. 13, 17, no. 345 (ill.).
5Removal from Gotha to Coburg 27 March 1945 Initiated and organized by Eberhard Freiherrr Schenk von Schweinsberg, Director of the Herzogliches Museum in Gotha, with the intention to protect the work against seizure by Russian trophy brigades and to place it in the custody of the ducal family there; the work's removal, along with 2 other oil sketches by Rubens and a portrait by Frans Hals, from Gotha (Thuringia) to nearby Coburg (Bavaria) later helped to withhold these works from the Soviet administration which, according to the Treaty of Yalta, took over the State of Thuringia from the Americans in July 1945, whereas Bavaria remained under American administration, Mirko Krüger, «[...] vor dem Einmarsch der Russen nach Koburg zu transportieren», in: Wieder zurück in Gotha, Die verlorenen Meisterwerke, (exh. cat.) Herzogliches Museum Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha 2021–2022, pp. 68–69, fig. 5.
6E. & A. Silberman New York • by 1953 Advertisement of E. & A. Silberman Galleries, Inc., New York, illustrating Rubens, Saint Augustine, in Art Quarterly (16) 1953, p. 87.
7Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt Zurich • 1953 Acquired from the above, Information given by Mr. Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich, son of Dr. Walter Feilchenfeldt, to Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, on 22 April 2008. This information is corroborated by AStEGB, Letter from E. and A. Silberman Galleries, Inc., New York, to Emil Bührle, 14 September 1953, accompanying a publication of another Rubens sketch from the same series, then recently acquired by the Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo (New York).
8Emil Bührle Zurich • 29 May 1953 until [d.] 28 November 1956 Acquired from the above, AStEGB, Entry Book II, 22 May 1953; AStEGB, Handwritten note from Emil Bührle to Dr. O. Maurer [Secretary General of Oerlikon Bührle & Co.], n. d., announcing that Dr. Feilchenfeldt will soon come to collect CHF 200.000 for a landscape by Cézanne (Emil Bührle Collection, Inv. 175), and the Rubens sketch of which CHF 30.000 are to be transferred to an account with Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, and CHF 170.000 to be handed over in cash («discret»); AStEGB, Letter from Dr. O. Maurer to Industrie- und Handelsbank, Zurich, 29 May 1953, ordering payment of CHF 30.000 to Dr. Feilchenfeldt.
9Given by the heirs of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection Zurich • 1960 Inv. 160.
AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Julius S. Held, The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, A Critical Catalogue, 2 vol., Princeton, 1980.
Exhibitions
1910Exposition d'art ancient, L'Art belge au XVIIe siècle Exposition internationale de Bruxelles 1910 (Nouveau Palais) • Brussels • 1910 no. 364.
1937Esquisses de Rubens (Schetsen van Rubens) Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique/Koninklijke Museums voor schoone Kunsten van Belgie • Brussels • 1937 no 63.
1955Alte Meister aus der Sammlung E. Bührle, Zürich Jegenstorf Castle • Jegenstorf (Bern) • 1955 no. 19.
1955Meisterwerke flämischer Malerei Museum zu Allerheiligen • Schaffhausen • 1955 no. 94.
1958Sammlung Emil G. Bührle, Festschrift zu Ehren von Emil G. Bührle zur Eröffnung des Kunsthaus-Neubaus und Katalog der Sammlung Emil G. Bührle Kunsthaus Zurich • 1958 no. 64.
1958Hauptwerke der Sammlung Emil Georg Bührle–Zürich Haus der Kunst • Munich • 1958–59 no. 140.
1963Sammlung Emil G. Bührle, Französische Meister von Delacroix bis Matisse Kunstmuseum Lucerne • 1963 no. 4.
1977P. P. Rubens, Schilderijen, Olieverschetsen, Tekeningen (P. P. Rubens, Gemälde, Ölskizzen, Zeichnungen) Museum voor schone Kunsten • Antwerp • 1977 no. 52.
2010Van Gogh, Cézanne, Monet, Die Sammlung Bührle zu Gast im Kunsthaus Zürich Kunsthaus Zurich • 2010 no. 160.
References
1858Katalog des Gothaer Museums 1858 • vol. 4 • no. 49.
1880Heinrich Justus Schneider Herzogliches Museum zu Gotha, Katalog der Herzoglichen Gemäldegalerie Gotha • 1880 • no. 86.
1886Max Rooses L'œuvre de P. P. Rubens, Histoire et description de ses tableaux et dessins vol. 1 • Antwerp • 1886 • no. 30bis (2Soest 1977).
1890Max Rooses Rubens' Leben und Werke Stuttgart etc. • 1890 • p. 241.
1890Carl Aldenhoven Herzogliches Museum zu Gotha, Katalog der Herzoglichen Gemäldegalerie Gotha • 1890 • no. 37 (21910).
1905Adolf Rosenberg P. P. Rubens, Des Meisters Gemälde in 551 Abbildungen Stuttgart & Leipzig • 1905 • pp. 201 (ill. bottom), 511 (21906; French edition: P. P. Rubens, L'œuvre du maître, Paris 1912).
1912Trésor de l'art belge, Mémorial de l'exposition d'art ancien à Bruxelles en 1910 vol. 1 Beaux-Arts, Tableaux Brussels • 1912 • pp. 51–52, fig. 16.
1921Rudolf Oldenbourg P. P. Rubens, Des Meisters Gemälde in 538 Abbildungen Berlin & Stuttgart • 41921 • p. 209 (ill., bottom).
1939Leo van Puyvelde Skizzen des Peter Paul Rubens Frankfurt/Main • 1939 • p. 31, no. 24 (2Basel 1948, p. 27, no. 24; English edition: The Sketches of Rubens, London 1948; New York 1951; 21954 • French edition: Les esquisses de Rubens, Basel 1940, p. 26, no. 24; 21948; 31958; 41968).
1965Marianne Bernhard Verlorene Werke der Malerei in Deutschland, In Deutschland in der Zeit von 1939 und 1945 zerstörte oder verschollene Gemälde Munich • 1965 • p. 128.
1968John Rupert Martin The Ceiling Paintings for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp London & New York • 1968 • no. 30A, fig. 162.
1973Leopold Reidemeister etc. Stiftung Sammlung Emil G. Bührle / Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle / Foundation Emil G. Bührle Collection Zurich & Munich • 1973 • no. 160 (ill.;21986).
1980Julius S. Held The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, A Critical Catalogue Princeton (New Jersey) • 1980 • vol. 1 • no. 28, vol. 2, fig. 32.
1994Emil Maurer Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Zürich Bern • 1994 • p. 18 (English edition: Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Bern 1995).
2003Anke Dörrzapf «Hoheit liess einpacken» in Art(July) • 2003 • pp. 86–90.
2005Lukas Gloor • Marco Goldin (ed.)Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich, Catalogue vol. 1 • Conegliano & Zurich • 2005 • no. 19 (ill.; German edition: Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle, Katalog; Italian edition: Fondazione Collezione E.G. Bührle, Catalogo).
2011Allmuth Schuttwolf Verlustdokumentation der Gothaer Kunstsammlungen Bd. 2 Die Gemäldesammlung Gotha • 2011 • p. 17, no. 345 (ill.).
2021Lukas Gloor «The Holdings of the Emil Bührle Collection: Illustrated List of All 633 Purchases» in The Emil Bührle Collection: History, Full Catalogue and 70 Masterpieces Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (ed.) • Munich • 2021 • no. 288 (ill.).
2021Mirko Krüger «[...] vor dem Einmarsch der Russen nach Koburg zu transportierender Russen nach Koburg zu transportieren», in: Wieder zurück in Gotha, Die verlorenen Meisterwerke, (exh. cat.) Herzogliches Museum Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha 2021–2022, pp. 68–69, fig. 5.