Tree Study

Rubens

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Rubens. The drawing is a study of a tree, with a dense tangle of roots, branches, leaves and grasses around its base. Out of this rises the trunk of the tree, which has some leaves climbing up it, and a few slender bare branches extending from the trunk at the top of the sheet. An upright post, perhaps a fence post, is visible on the right-hand side. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "12. RUBENS (b. 1577; d. 1640) Collection of the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chatsworth. From the Flinck Collection. Pen and bistre and bistre wash over red chalk with touches of water-colour, 34.5 x 29.8 cm. (13 9/16 x 11 11/16 in.). Inscribed below in Rubens's hand: afgevallen bladeren ende op sommighe plaetsen schoon gruen grase door kyken (fallen leaves and in some places green grasses show through). A very beautiful study of detail from nature in the same manner (and probably done at the same place and time) as a drawing in the Louvre (Rooses, 1591; reproduced by Braun). A. M. H."