Two studies of a knife-grinder c.1620
Graphite, pen and brown ink with brown wash and watercolour | 16.5 x 20.2 cm (whole object) | RCIN 906471
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A drawing of a knife-grinder, with his back to the viewer, sharpening a knife, watched by three boys on the right and a woman behind. The grinding wheel, which is rotated by means of a pedal, is cooled by water dripping from a barrel-like container. There is a preliminary sketch of the same subject, upper left. RL 6465-6513 amount to nearly one third of Avercamp's known drawings and represent the largest holding in one collection. They cover all categories of his drawings- studies of single figures, and groups, genre scenes and landscapes- and illustrate his considerable variety in finish and technique. In general the artist did not make preparatory drawings. They seem to have been made for their own sake, and some of the more finished coloured sheets were probably sold. The remainder served as a vocabulary of human behaviour as for the most part seen in the provincial town of Kampen.
Provenance
First recorded in a Royal Collection inventory of c.1810 (Inv. A, p. 118: '42. Drawings of some Master in the Stile of Breughel, representing the Diversions of the Dutch and Flemish on the Ice &c: with some Drawings of single figures for the Dresses only').
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Graphite, pen and brown ink with brown wash and watercolour
Measurements
16.5 x 20.2 cm (whole object)
Object type(s)