Jupiter Embracing Amor

Joseph Heintz the Elder

1564 Basel – 1609 Prague

Black chalk. Sheet size: 26.4 x 22.4 cm. Watermark: Eagle in a circle with crown (Zimmer, p. 109, no. 2). Signed top left: J. Heintz noh. Raph. Rom 1584, in ink bottom right No.6.

Heintz was in Rome from 1584 and our drawing is one the earliest testimonies of this stay. It is a copy of arguably the most popular image by Raphael for the spandrels in the Villa Farnesina. There are two other small drawings by Heintz of copies of images from the Farnesina (A Flying Genius with a Shield and Helmet, Two Geniuses with Vessels. Zimmer, A31, A32, with ill.). Zimmer dates these works to 1585-7 and believes that our drawing comes from a first numbered series, of which it is today the only known part.

The majority of Heintz's drawings of 1580-89 are copies of identified or unidentified models of antiquities, frescoes and paintings. In this context, our drawing is one of the most beautiful early examples of Heintz's draughtsmanship.

We are grateful to Dr. Jürgen Zimmer, Berlin, for his help in cataloguing this drawing, which will be entered in the enlarged volume listing Heintz's drawings.

Bought by a museum, Northern America.