Adriaen van Ostade

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Adriaen van Ostade
1610-1685
Head of an Old Woman, Full Face, Looking down
Black, red, and ochre chalk, on paper.
3 9/16 x 3 1/2 inches (90 x 89 mm)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
I, 129 (1)
Notes: 

Watermark: none.
The drawing and I, 129 (2) are carefully executed studies done from life, from two different points of view, after the same elderly model and were evidently drawn at the same sitting, since the woman's clothing is identical in each.

Inscription: 

Signed with initials at left center, in black chalk, "AV.(in ligature)O". Inscribed on the verso: at left, in brown ink, "Hs ["s"(??) in superscript]xv"; below this, in the hand of Ploos van Amstel, in graphite, "h 31/2 / b 3"; and in the lower left corner, also in the hand of Ploos, in graphite, "f n[?]".

Provenance: 
Cornelis Ploos van Amstel Jb Czn (1726-98), Amsterdam (Lugt 2034); Sir Charles Greville (1762-1832), English officer (Lugt 549); George Guy Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick (1818-93), Warwick Castle (Lugt 2600); his sale, London, Christie's, 20-21 May 1896, one of two [with I, 129(2)] in lot 245: "Bust of an Old Woman - black and red chalk - signed with initials; and another similar study of the same (2)" (to Fairfax Murray for £5.0.0); Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.
Associated names: 

Dusart, Cornelis, 1660-1704, Formerly attributed to.
Ploos van Amstel, Cornelis, 1726-1798, former owner.
Greville, Charles, 1762-1832, former owner.
Warwick, George Guy Greville, Earl of, 1818-1893, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 129 (1), repr.

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