Venus standing in a niche.

Drawing, red chalk, laid paper with watermark (Letters IPI, not in Heawood nor Churchill), unsigned (four sl. obtrusive brown spots, some horiz. creases, trimmed to the niche outlines).

A nice drawing in the manner of the engravings of Jacopo Caraglio and Marcantonio. The pose of the goddess is based upon the Medici Venus, a Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love. The statue was part of the Medici collection and can now be seen in the Uffizi in Florence. The drawing includes the two arms that were added to the sculpture in 1638 by the Baroque sculptor Ercole Ferrata (1610-1686). This serves as a terminus post quem for dating the sheet. The drawing was attributed to Jacob Jordaens in pencil on the verso.