Exceptional Works #3

Jan Harmensz Muller (1571 - Amsterdam - 1628), Mars, Venus and Amor, c. 1590, 21,6 x 14,3 cm, Pen in black and brown ink, brown wash, heightened in white on reddish prepared paper

In this new format we look forward to presenting exceptional works on a reoccurring basis. The selection will focus on master pieces from private collections, new discoveries and recent attributions.
This drawing, newly attributed to Jan Harmensz Muller (1571 - Amsterdam - 1628), is a major contribution to Muller's small surviving oeuvre of drawings. We are grateful for the scholarly support from David Mandrella, Paris, his new attribution and the following text. 

#3: Jan Harmensz Muller, Mars, Venus and Amor, c. 1590

The erotic scene is depicted very clearly and needs no further explanation. At the lower left, Amor holds a mirror up to the lovers. A fragment of an arm on the knee of Venus shows the artist's struggle to find a pictoral solution and clearly proves that this is an original work. The drawing is a product of the Prague School, which was admired throughout Europe during the end of the 16th century. For a long time, it was attributed to Bartholomäus Spranger, perhaps the most influential Prague court artist, who was masterfully imitated in the Netherlands, in Haarlem, Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Our drawing, created at the beginning of the 1590s, is an interesting addition to the early work of Jan Harmensz Muller, an artist from Amsterdam who studied under Goltzius and was introduced to Spranger's art by his master. Muller is primarily known as an engraver and often worked from paintings or drawings by Spranger. The complicated technique of our drawing is typical for Muller; here he used rose primed paper, pen and black ink, brown wash and white gouache. We find a very similar technique in Hercules, Deianera and the Centaur Nessus, a drawing also made in the early 1590s, (see Dessins anciens et du XIXe siècle, Nicolas Schwed, Paris, March 2024, cat. no. 8).  Stylistically very closely related to our drawing is a second drawing from the same period of Muller's youth, Venus and Mars, which is kept in the Bibliothèque patrimoniale Villon of Rouen (BMR 16139, see exh. cat. Rouen, Dessins des Écoles du Nord, 2023/2024, no. 34, ill.). In the Rouen drawing, Muller drew on white paper with pen and brown ink, with gray and red washes as well as white gouache and gold paint. The parallel hatching, the quickly and confidently drawn faces and the peculiar, very expressive hands can be found in Rouen and in our drawing. The work from Rouen is inscribed "J. (?) H. M. in Rom" at the lower right. The drawing thus clearly documents Muller's stay in the eternal city. The two drawings included for comparison, as well as our sheet, are all very exquisitely executed and stand out as autonomous works of art for subtle collectors. Our sheet thus fits perfectly into Muller's small oeuvre of drawings. The virtuosity and eroticism give it the characteristic Rudolfian elegance.