Attributed to Jacques CELLIER (Active in Reims between 1580 and 1620) Study of a lute Pen and brown ink Possibly inscribed by the master writer Guillaume Le Gangneur (1553 - 1624) or by Jacques Cellier in pen and brown ink: 'Hanc citharam a lembi que forma halieutica fertur / Seu propriam vendicat musa latina sibi' (My present is a Lute / That as its own takes the Latin muse) at the bottom. The drawing is mounted on an album page numbered '29'. The album page paper bears a pot watermark, Briquet no. 12737, recorded in Berry in 1591. Without frame Lute study, pen and brown ink, attr. to J. Cellier 7.08 x 8.26 in. 18 x 21 cm Jacques Cellier was an organist, master writer, draughtsman and tutor, active in Reims between 1580 and 1620. Several collections of drawings and calligraphy by Jacques Cellier are known. The best known is Recueil Cellier: Recherche de plusieurs singularités, par François Merlin, contrôleur général de la maison de feu madame Marie Elisabeth, fille unique de feu roy Charles dernier que Dieu absolue. Portraictes et escrites par Jacques Cellier, demourant à Reims. Commencé le troisième jour de mars 1583, et achevé le 10 septembre mil Vc quatre-vingts et sept (BNF, Manuscrit français 9152) is dedicated to Henri III. Part of the manuscript concerns musical instruments, including a drawing of a lute (view 190 of the manuscript). Cellier's calligraphy seems a little different from our own, and is closer to that of the famous master writer Guillaume Le Gangneur. Our lute study refers to an illustration from the Emblèmes d'André Alciat (1492 - 1550), more specifically the chapter 'Foedera' or 'Traité d'amitiés', which begins with the same verses as those written on our drawing. Alciat's Emblems, first published in 1531, were a great success in the sixteenth century, and were reprinted many times. Each "Emblem" is linked to an engraving and a poem. In all editions, the Foedera emblem is represented by a lute. Our drawing, an emblem of friendship, must have been given by Jacques Cellier to one of his close friends and collectors. The lute appears in numerous representations from the 15th century onwards, notably in a famous engraving by Durer, "Artist drawing a lute using a perspective apparatus" (British Museum inv.E,2.398, fig. 1). The slightly skewed perspective is similar to that used by Holbein in his painting The Ambassadors, now in the National Gallery in London (fig.2). It is interesting to note that the painting was in France at the Château de Polisy, near Troyes, between 1533 and 1653. Our drawing is mounted on an album page bearing a watermark dated circa 1591. Our sheet could therefore have been drawn in the 1580s. Attributed to Jacques CELLIER (Active in Reims between 1580 and 1620) 18 x 21 cm Jacques Cellier was an organist, master writer, draughtsman and tutor active in Rheims between 1580 and 1620. Several collections of drawings and calligraphy by Jacques Cellier are known. The best known is Recueil Cellier: Recherche de plusieurs singularités, par François Merlin, contrôleur général de la maison de feu madame Marie Elisabeth, fille unique de feu roy Charles dernier que Dieu absolue. Portraictes et escrites par Jacques Cellier, demourant à Reims. Commencé le troisième jour de mars 1583, et achevé le 10 septembre mil Vc quatre-vingts et sept (BNF, Manuscrit français 9152) is dedicated to Henri III. Part of the manuscript concerns musical instruments, including a drawing of a lute (view 190 of the manuscript). Cellier's calligraphy seems a little different from our own, and is closer to that of the famous master writer Guillaume Le Gangneur. Our lute study refers to an illustration from the Emblèmes d'André Alciat (1492 - 1550), more specifically the chapter 'Foedera' or 'Traité d'amitiés', which begins with the same verses as those written on our drawing. Alciat's Emblems, first published in 1531, were a great success in the sixteenth century, and were reprinted many times. Each "Emblem" is linked to an engraving and a poem. In all editions, the Foedera emblem is represented by a lute. Our drawing, an emblem of friendship, must have been given by Jacques Cellier to one of his close friends and collectors. The lute is depicted in numerous representations from the fifteenth century onwards, notably in a famous engraving by Durer, "artist drawing a lute with the aid of a perspective apparatus" (British Museum inv.E,2.398, fig. 1). The slightly skewed perspective is similar to that used by Holbein in his painting The Ambassadors, now in the National Gallery in London (fig.2). It is interesting to note that the painting was in France at the Château de Polisy, near Troyes, between 1533 and 1653. Our drawing is mounted on an album page bearing a watermark dated circa 1591. Our sheet could therefore have been drawn in the 1580s.