A drawing by Jacob de Wit for Cleveland

2/8/23 - Acquisition - Cleveland Museum of Art - Always well present in the aisles of the Salon du Dessin, North American museums rarely miss an opportunity to enrich their collections: quickly reserved on the beautiful stand of the Dutch dealer Onno van Seggelen, the superb drawing (ill. 1) by Jacob de Wit that we reproduced in our article four months ago has now joined the Cleveland Museum of Art! Purchased thanks to the Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund, it will not be joining its pendant (ill. 2) donated ten years ago to the Art Institute of Chicago, which for its part has selected other sheets for the Paris fair, including the striking Georges Minne that we mentioned ten days ago (see the news item of 21/7/23). It is of course not the first time that this museum has taken a fine 17th-century sheet to the Salon du Dessin: we recall the splendid pastel by Simon Vouet acquired two years ago (see the news item of 4/10/21).

1. Jacob de Wit (1695-1754)
Jupiter and Callisto, 1733
Pen and brown ink, grey wash, watercolour and white highlights - 44.5 x 30.8 cm
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art
Photo: Onno van Seggelen Fine Arts

See the image in its page

2. Jacob de Wit (1695-1754)
Jupiter and Mnemosyne, 1733
Pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, watercolour and white highlights - 44.9 x 31 cm
Chicago, The Art Institute
Photo: Art Institute of Chicago

See the image in its page

Very well finished, these two fine drawings signed and dated 1733 depict well-known mythological episodes in which Jupiter disguises himself to better deceive the vigilance of Callisto and Mnemosyne. In the Cleveland one, the god has taken on the appearance of the goddess Diana, recognisable by her many attributes. Jupiter’s eagle can still be seen, which perhaps explains the attitude of Callisto, who seems to be almost repulsed by Jupiter’s advances in the guise of Diana. The Dutch dealer’s extensive note - still available online -…