Tomyris with the Head of Cyrus (verso)
c. 1637–38
Medium
pen and brown ink, with black and red chalk
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.272,"width":0.472},"secondary support":{"height":0.276,"width":0.473}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds
Accession Number
1954.2.b
Tags
About this artwork
Peter Paul Rubens had a large studio in Antwerp and used drawing to prepare for large paintings as well as to direct the many pupils who assisted him. Striking in its immediacy, the drawing on the recto of this sheet of paper is a preparatory study for the Feast of Herod painting now at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Herod, wearing a large cap and wrapped in a mantle, shrinks back in horror as Salome uncovers a charger that holds the head of Saint John the Baptist. Smiling, Herodias...