This spirited drawing is a study for a woman and child seated at table during a celebration of the feast of Epiphany in Jordaens's painting The King Drinks (ca. 1638-40) at the Musée du Louvre. The little girl is holding a piece of the Epiphany pie. The woman's dark hair, large forehead, distinctly almond-shaped eyes, and prominent nose betray the features of Catharina van Noort, Jordaens's beloved wife, who also appears in the Morgan Library's Satyr and Peasant, inv. I, 236. The girl likely represents the couple's daughter Anna Catharina. At upper right, Jordaens included a note to himself: to place the girl closer to the woman (dichter bij de vrou) in the painting. -- Exhibition Label, from "Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens"
Wauters, Emile, 1846-1933, former owner.
Muller, Frederick, former owner.
Cassirer, Paul, former owner.
Wertheimer, Otto, 1896-1973, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Tuinen, Ilona van. Power and Grace : Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, 2018, no. 12 (repr.)
Thaw Catalogue Raisonné, 2017, no. 214, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 5.