This intriguing drawing from the studio of Peter Paul Rubens relates to a painting depicting the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, now at Schloss Weissenstein in Pommersfelden, Germany. This painting was considered by Kristin Belkin as ‘a pastiche of various Rubens figures and motifs’ [1], and the recto of the present drawing depicts one of several groupings of figures in that large canvas. Several of these figures are quite close in handling to those in other sheets and oil sketches by Rubens, such as his Village Sermon and his Garden of Love, both in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY [2], or his Study for the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. [3] 

 

Given Rubens’ proclivity to touch up drawings by others - be they by studio assistants or illustrious predecessors - there remains a distinct possibility that he also touched up several faces on the recto of the sheet - notably that of the man in the fur-lined cloak and those of the two figures to his left. These appear to have been worked over with hatchings, white highlights and sanguine in a way similar to that in other drawings retouched by the master. The verso of the sheet depicts various figure studies (see ill.), presumably for a Last Supper, in a style that is reminiscent of that of van Dyck and Rubens himself. This re-use confirms the status of the present drawing as workshop material, tantalizingly close to the master himself.