Drawings by Cornelis Moninckx in the Hermitage collection

Abstract

The article analyses three drawings by the Dutch artist of the middle of the 17th century Cornelis Moninckx (1623–1666) from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. Cornelis Moninckx (1623–1666) from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum are analysed. The sheets presented are published for the first time. The drawings come from three different collections, which are important components of the museum’s graphic collections. They are executed in a technique characteristic of the artist: black chalk on parchment; two drawings are signed by the author, and another was attributed by the author of this article on the basis of the stylistic features of Cornelis Moninckx’s work. Only a corpus of genre drawings, a few engravings and a design for a sculpture have survived from the master’s artistic legacy. Three finished and large-format sheets from the Hermitage collection considerably expand the known field of the master’s works. The study of Moninckx’s works from the national collection gives grounds for assumptions about the reading of the subjects. The themes chosen by the master are inextricably linked with pictorial tradition and folk humour. Moninckx turned to the work of the masters of the 16th century, in particular Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and was interested in the work of his contemporaries: Adriaen Braughel the Elder, Adriaen Brauwer, Adriaen van Ostade and others. In this scientific article, the master’s drawings are analysed from both the point of view of iconography, and formal and stylistic method, and a comparative analysis is applied. The works are put in line with other known works by the artist.