Jan Claudius de Cock (1667-1735)

PERSEUS & ANDROMEDA
(Andromeda rescued by Perseus -- nuptials of Perseus & Andromeda)

A two-sided ink drawing; verso : design for monument to a hero

Jan Claudius de Cock (1667 to 1735)
Flemish sculptor and draughtsman; Born Brussels, baptized 6 Feb 1667. Died Antwerp, early 1735.
(Some sources give dates as 1668 or 1670 - 1736)

He entered the Antwerp workshop of Peeter Verbrugghen the Elder in 1682-3, where he became a member of the Antwerp Guild in 1688-9. After the death of Peeter the Elder (1686), he continued collaborating with the son, Peeter the Younger.

Following the death of Verbruggen the younger in 1691, de Cock became an independent master.

In 1692 de Cock worked under the direction of Jacob Romans (1640-1715) decorating the Prinsenhof (destroyed) of the palace in Breda for King William III, Stadholder of the Netherlands: there he executed a series of busts of the Princes of Orange, including those of Prince Philip William and Prince Maurice (both terracotta, 1692-8; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum).

By 1697-8 de Cock returned to Antwerp, where he established a large workshop of assistants, who helped produce his vast oeuvre of sacred and profane subjects, on both small and monumental scale.

Various versions of his signature are recorded. Most typical are Latinized variants of his name, such as variations of the formula “Joannes Claudius de Cock inv.et del.”.

Medium : Pen & Ink, 2 sided, on laid paper
Size : (sight) 9-1/2” x 7-1/2” (24.5 x 19.5 cm)
(measured before framing as) 9-7/8 x 8-1/2”

Recto : “(Andr)om. (?) Liberat.
(Andromeda Liberata, or the Nuptials of Perseus and Andromeda with slain dragon)
Recto signed lower left “Joan Claudy.(de) Cock / invent ... Delineavit”**
(** “designed and drew”); titled lower right : “...m Liberat”

Verso : Design for monument to a hero
(Reclining goddess with oval framed male portrait head)
The verso is unsigned.

The classical legend of Perseus and Andromeda, interpreted with many variations in the literature of the 16th and 17th centuries, is also associated with the Christian legend of Saint George.


# 01039 .................................................................................................................................................... $3,600.