Studio of Daniel Rabel

The Library's group of eight drawings attributed to Rabel and his workshop come from a larger batch of works by the artist that were on the market in 1986. These sheets, said to be from a dismembered album or albums, emerged from a West German collection and were on the Swiss art market before being acquired by dealers Niall Hobhouse and Wheelock Whitney. Drawings from this cache, which were the subject of a catalogue by Margaret McGowan, are now in the Morgan, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Marion Koogler McNay Museum, and the New York Public Library Dance Collection. In 2020, the Louvre acquired a group of seven designs for Louis XII's court ballets by Rabel and his workshop from a second tranche of drawings.
The provenance of the album and its history before being dismembered in 1986 is unknown. While it was rumored to have been in the collection of Hippolyte Destailleur (1822-1893), there is no evidence to confirm his ownership. Macgowan noted that the contents of the album were reorganized several times and the circumstances of its original assembly are unknown, although the album pages seem to date from the 1580s based on watermark evidence.
The present design is for a musician in the "Ballet des Aventures de Tancrède en la Foret enchantee", first performed on 12 February 1619 as part of the marriage celebrations for Christine de France and Victor-Amedee de Savoie. The music was composed by Pierre Guedron with a libretto by Rene Bordier and various poets. The ballet's theme was based on the tale of Tancred, the Christian warrior, from Torquato Tasso's poem Jerusalem Delivered (1581). A description of the performance indicates that the “angel musicians” wore corresponding blue, red, and white costumes, edged in gold, and also sported wings.