A sick, dying or dead woman lying on a bed in the presence of three figures. Drawing.

[Place of publication not identified]

1 drawing : brown and grey washes, with pencil ; image 31.3 x 19.2 cm

Authorship undetermined. An old attribution to Jan de Bisschop is inscribed on the mount. A resemblance to the work of Gerard Hoet the elder has been noted. In a letter of 1 January 1982, Marijn Schapelhouman wrote that the drawing "might be Dutch, from the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century. The authorship of Jan de Bisschop is in my opinion out of the question. Gerard Hoet is a somewhat likelier candidate. However I think the attribution to him is not wholly convincing. Most of his drawings show a less rigid classicism. A better guess might be Otmar Elliger the younger (1666-1735), a German-born artist who worked for a considerable time in Amsterdam, and who was a pupil of Gerard de Lairesse. ...". In a letter of 24 June 1982, Drs Dorine van Sasse van Ysselt of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague, said that "The suggested attribution to G. Hoet, O. Elliger or J. de Bisschop does not seem very convincing."

Wellcome Collection 35689i