Head of a youth with curly hair and a flat collar

The present sheet and the two included in the next lot are part of a group of drawings, all by the same hand, which appear to come from one or more sketchbooks recording motifs from England, Frankfurt, Zeeland and possibly Bruges or Antwerp (for another drawing from the same group and also from the van Regteren Altena collection, see Christie's, London, 10 July 2014, lot 30). The attribution of the group remains uncertain. Popham believed the drawings to be by Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677), but I.Q. van Regteren Altena's suggestion that they are by Jacques de Gheyn III seems to be more plausible. The younger de Gheyn, who could have learnt the technique of silverpoint from his father who made use of the medium, is known to have travelled to England in 1622. Some drawings from the group feature identifiably British motifs and one of them copies details from a painting by Jacques de Gheyn II at Ham House (van Regteren Altena, op. cit., II, S7).