Christ in the House of Martha and Mary

The 1739 manuscript inventory of Valerius Röver (1686-1739), a prominent collector from Delft, describes a drawing by Lucas van Leyden as ‘de Historie van Maria en Martha met de pen en gewassen [...]1528’ (the manuscript inventory is in the library of the University of Amsterdam). The entry most likely refers to the present drawing which bears the date of 1528. Another version of the composition, without date, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. 73:104; see Boon, op. cit., no. 341, ill.).

On the verso of the sheet is a quick doodle in pen and ink of a head in profile.