The Angel appearing to the two Marys at the Tomb

Details

Samuel Dircksz. van Hoogstraten (Dordrecht 1627-1678)
The Angel appearing to the two Marys at the Tomb
red and black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and reddish washes heightened with white, the figure of the angel redrawn in pen, Strasburg bend
320 x 292 mm.

Provenance

The Earl of Warwick (L. 2600)
C.R. Rudolf; Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 18 April 1977, lot 121, as attributed to Carel Fabritius (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. B-53).

Literature

C. White, The drawings of Rembrandt, London, 1962, no. 105 (as S. Hoogstraten retouched by Rembrandt).
W. Sumowski, Drawings from the Rembrandt School, 5, New York, 1981, no. 1130x, where dated to the early 1650s.

Exhibited

London, Arts Council, Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Mr. C.R. Rudolf, 1962, no. 105, as Samuel van Hoogstraten.
Notre Dame, Indiana, The Snite Museum of Art, Selections of XVII and XVIII Century Dutch Art from the Collection of Dr A.C.R. Dreesmann, 1982, no. 18.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

One of a small group of large painterly compositions drawn after Hoogstraten's departure from Rembrandt's studio in 1648, and probably dating from the early 1650s when he travelled from Dordrecht to Vienna and then to Rome. Other drawings from this group include the Interior of a synagogue in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (Sumowski 1128x) and The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau in the British Museum (Benesch 1129x).
The composition may be inspired by a lost Rembrandt drawing known through a copy in the Graphische Sammlung, Munich, which shows the Holy Women appearing through the tomb entrance to the right confronted by a broad-winged angel prominent at the upper left, O. Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, II, London, 1973, no. C29. The suggestion advanced by Christopher White in 1962 that areas of the drawing, particularly the angel, were re-worked by Rembrandt has not been supported by more recent opinion.

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