CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Museum Prinsenhof Acquires Drawings by Delft Artist Leonaert Bramer

Museum Prinsenhof has acquired three drawings by Delft artist Leonaert Bramer (1596-1674) at Sotheby’s in New York. The drawings in question are Gods on Olympus, Venus complaining to Jupiter in the presence of Mercury, after Jacob Jordaens and A man playing bagpipes for spectators. The acquisitions are a welcome addition to the group of works by Leonaert Bramer in the collection of the museum.

The drawing Venus complaining to Jupiter in the presence of Mercury has been added to the exhibition Vermeer’s Delft and will be on view through 4 June. Bramer made this copy of a painting by the Flemish master Jacob Jordaens in Delft. It is believed his contemporary, Johannes Vermeer, also based a painting on Jordaens’ composition. Both paintings have since disappeared, but thanks to Bramers’s copy, at least the scene has survived.

Placement of Venus complaining to Jupiter in the presence of Mercury by Leonaert Bramer in exhibition Vermeer’s Delft (photos by Marco de Swart)