An artist, perhaps the Bolognese painter Bartolomeo Passarotti, made an initial drawing in pen and ink depicting two slender, clean-shaven men. Some of these lines were later erased and outlines redrawn in wash and body colour, to add volume and texture. These alterations were made by Rubens, who acquired a group of drawings, probably around 1600, and reworked them at different times in his career.
Attributed to Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529–1592), retouched by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
Two robed men
16th century (?), reworked after 1600
Pen and ink, retouched with wash and heightened with white, on buff paper, 36.2 x 24.4 cm
Given by G.T. Clough, 1913
No. 3129
