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NIKOLAUS BRUNO BELAU (1684 Magdeburg - 1747 Barby)
Draft of a Tomb with a Statue of Fame
Pen and dark brown ink, brown and grey wash with watercolor
over traces of graphite, ca. 378 x 239 mm. Pheme is a draft
outlined on a different piece of paper and adhered to the
drawing. Signed at the bottom right: "NB Belau"
Provenance: "Kgl. Kunst-Akademie in Königsberg Pr." (Royal
Academy of Fine Arts Königsberg in Prussia), "Dorgerlohsche
Stiftung" (Dorgerloh Foundation), Lugt 682.
Pheme, goddess of fame, points at a palm leaf. It is a
metaphor of the deceased person's glory, as well as a
victory wreath.
The pine cone visible in the upper part of the composition
closely resembles that of the Augsburg coat of arms. This
could indicate the ancestry of the deceased.
A possible candidate is a member of the noble von Schnurbein
family, that moved from Augsburg to Köthen. This town is
located close to Barby, where Belau resided. Possibly, the
drawing was conceived in connection with Schnurbein´s crypt,
located in the St. Agnus church.
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