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1 of 253523 objects
Pluto c.1590-5
Pen and black ink with brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk, on buff paper | 40.1 x 29.5 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 912967
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A drawing of a standing male nude seen from the back, with his head turned to the left, holding a stick in his right hand; a three headed dog is at his feet. The hellish scene in set in a landscape with a figure on a wheel to left.
Born in Amsterdam, Jan Muller trained as an engraver, and after becoming acquainted with the Haarlem artists Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) and Cornelis Cornelisz. (1562-1638), he travelled to Italy in the latter half of the 1590s. Muller maintained contacts with the (mainly Dutch) artists at the court of Rudolf II in Prague, including the sculptor Adriaen de Vries (1556-1626), to whom he was related by marriage. His work reflects the more extreme aspects of northern Mannerism - contorted poses and a muscularity ultimately derived from Michelangelo but exaggerated to the point of caricature.
The drawing is one of a set of four at Windsor, each depicting a mythical god with his attributes: Mars seated on a piece of armour; Jupiter hurling a thunderbolt; Vulcan in his forge; and here the god of the underworld Pluto, with the three-headed dog Cerberus at his feet and scenes of torment - such as a figure tied to a wheel - in the hellish background. Similar drawings of Hercules, Tityus and Neptune are to be found in other collections. These drawings show the gods as left-handed, and it is probable that Muller was planning a series of prints (the act of printing would reverse the image and thus restore the gods’ right-handedness). The enthusiastic awkwardnesses of the drawings mark them out as works of Muller’s youth, before his trip to Italy.
A number of Muller’s drawings emulate the pictorial effects of a chiaroscuro woodcut: the strong outlines that define the composition echo the line block in black ink, and the broad areas of wash and white heightening mimic the tone blocks printed with dilute inks. Muller never produced a chiaroscuro woodcut himself, but these drawings may have been inspired by Goltzius’s great achievements in chiaroscuro, such as his series of Gods of around 1590 that may have been the immediate inspiration for Muller’s series of drawings.
Text adapted from Holbein to Hockney: Drawings from the Royal CollectionProvenance
Probably in the Royal Collection by c.1810
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Pen and black ink with brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk, on buff paper
Measurements
40.1 x 29.5 cm (sheet of paper)