Godfried Maes (Antwerp 1649-1700), Eighteen illustrations for Ovid‘s Metamorphoses. Photo: Christie‘s Images Ltd 2012.

black chalk, pen and brown and grey ink, brown and grey wash, brown ink framing lines, some with watermark, each approximately 7 x 9½ in. (18 x 24 cm.) 18 (18). Lot 1069. Estimate 50,000 - 80,000 U.S. dollars. 

(1) Apollo seducing Leucothoe
(2) Apollo pouring Nectar on Leucothoe's Tomb
(3) Apollo at Vulcan's Forge
(4) The Finding of the Infant Bacchus
(5) The Slaying of the Children of Niobe
(6) The Flaying of Marsyas

(7) Erichthonius discovered by the Daughters of Cecrops
(8) Minerva at the House of Envy
(9) Mercury at the House of Cecrops
(10) Minerva and the Muses
(11) Pyrenaeus welcoming the Muses
(12) The Muses evading the Advances of Pyrenaeus

(13) Mercury at the Temple of Minerva
(14) Juno in Hades
(15) Athamas tearing apart his Children
(16) Aleithoe's Sisters transformed into Bats
(17) Ceres transforming the Old Woman's Son into a Lizard
(18) Pluto carrying off Persephone 

These drawings were part of a group of 45 sheets sold by the artist's widow to Jacob de Wit before 1717. The group was purchased by Cronenburgh at de Wit's posthumous sale; de Leth, Amsterdam, 10 March 1755, portfolio U, no. 87. The group was then separated after the Cronenburgh sale; Amsterdam, 22 March 1762, portfolio A, no. 1. Thirty drawings were sold at Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15 January 1974 (lot 1273) where they were acquired by Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann.

Provenance: (1) Anonymous sale; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15-21 February 1980, part of lot 98 (to Dreesmann).
(2) Anonymous sale; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 18 November 1985, lot 196 (to Dreesmann).
(3) Anonymous sale; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15 November 1983, lot 343 (to Dreesmann).
(4) Anonymous sale; Christie's, Amsterdam, 15 November 1983, lot 115 (to Dreesmann).
(5) R.J. de Rydt, Leyden, acquired by Dreesmann.
(6) Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 12 November 1996, lot 50 (to Dreesmann).
(1-6) Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann (part of inventory no. B-91); Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 668 (nos. 1-6 above), where acquired by the present owner.

(7, 8 and 9) Anonymous sale; Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15 January 1974, part of lot 1273 (to Dreesmann).
(10, 11 and 12) Anonymous sale; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 26 November 1984, lots 112-114 (to Dreesmann).
(7-12) Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann (part of inventory no. B-91); Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 669 (nos. 7-12 above), where acquired by the present owner.

(13) Anonymous sale; Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15 January 1974, part of lot 1273 (to Dreesmann).
(14, 15 and 16) Anonymous sale; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 15-21 February 1980, lot 97 (to Dreesmann).
(17) Anonymous sale; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, December 1986, lot 104 (to Dreesmann).
(18) Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 11 November 1997, lot 235 (to Dreesmann).
(13-18) Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann (part of inventory no. B-91); Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 670 (nos. 13-18 above), where acquired by the present owner. 

Christie's. A Taste for Luxury: Two Great Houses from America's Gilded Age. 21 June 2012. New York, Rockefeller Plaza