Footnotes

Provenance
Possibly the Van Schorel Collection, by whom sold
Sale Antwerp, 7 June 1744, lot 28, where purchased for 9 florins 10 sous by
Jan Lauwryn Krafft (1694-1785)
The Collection of Dr. Ernst Sklarz, 1953
Private Collection, UK

Exhibited
Helsinki, Ateneumin Taidemuseo, P.P. Rubens : luonnoksia, piirustuksia, kaiverruksia, skisser, teckningar, gravyrer 1952-1953, nos. 18 and 19 (as Sir Peter Paul Rubens)
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Olieverfschetsen van Rubens, 1953 - 1954, p. 103, cat. no. 97, ill. p. 87 (as Sir Peter Paul Rubens)

Literature
M. Rooses, L'Oeuvre de Rubens, Antwerp, 1890, vol. III, pp. 313 (as Sir Peter Paul Rubens)
P. A. Seemann, Die galerien Europas; farbige nachbildungen alter Meisters, no. 414
J. Held, Les Arts Plastiques, vol. VI, Brussels, 1953, p. 116
J. Held, The Oil Sketches of Rubens. A Critical Catalogue, Princeton, 1980, Vol. I, p. 238, under cat. no. 160 (as a copy)
J. R. Martin, 'The Decorations for the Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi', Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Brussels, 1972, Part XVI, p. 158, ill. pl. 78 and 79 (as copies, previously accepted as autograph by Burchard)

The present sketches are derived from the Liberality of the King and the Providence of the King which formed the lateral canvases on the reverse of the Triumphal Arch for the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand's entry into Antwerp. The original canvases by Sir Peter Paul Rubens are now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille and measure 284 x 145 cm., but a modello for the arch by the artist, in which the corresponding parts measure 17.7 x 8.7 cm., is in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, (Inv. No. 502, No. 564 in Somov Catalogue).

The catalogue of the Rotterdam exhibition states that the figures refer to 'King Ferdinand', although all references to a king in the Triumphal Entry refer to King Phillip of Spain. Denying that these sketches fulfilled any function in the execution of the arch, Martin called attention to the fact that the figure of Providence, the pin on the rudder is missing (J. R. Martin 'The Decorations for the Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi', Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XVI, 1972, no. 158).