(Antwerp 1546-1611 Prague) Saint Ursula surrounded by virgins; above them the Holy Trinity with popes Cyriacus or bishop Sulpicius (?), pen and black ink, grey wash, on laid paper, 30,5 x 19,2 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance: Stamp "Collection v. Franz Masur" (not in Lugt) on the reverse; private collection, Austria.

The present drawing is presumably the design for an altar painting which the order of the Ursulines may have assigned to the artist in the time of the Counter Reformation. Saint Ursula with her crown is represented as a martyr triumphant giving shelter with her wide open coat to the representatives of 10 000 virgins, who according to the legend suffered from the matyrdom with her. Above them the Holy Trinity and pope Cyriacus or bishop Sulpicius (?) are hovering.

Whereas Spranger dealt with similar themes in his earlier paintings the drawing style of the drawing points to the middle of the 17th century. The somewhat elongated figures, the samll heads of them and the summary execution of the faces of Christ, God and the angles are also comparable with a sheet „The Holy Trinity“ by Tobias Pock (Konstanz 1609-1683 Vienna). (See: Gertrude Aurenhammer, Die Handzeichnung des 17. Jahrhunderts in Österreich, Vienna 1958, cat. L 9, Fig. 47).

We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Thomas Da Costa Kaufmann for the scientifc support.