Joseph sold by his brothers

Van den Eeckhout, whom Arnold Houbraken already considered to be ‘among the best of Rembrandt’s pupils’ (De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, II, Amsterdam, 1719, p. 100), studied with the master in the late 1630s, and remained faithful to a Rembrandtesque style until the end of his life, only a few years after Rembrandt’s own death. The present drawing is in certain ways characteristic of the ‘hurried style’ of Van den Eeckhout’s later works, when he revisited drawings by Rembrandt from the 1630s (W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, III, New York, 1980, p. 1384, under no. 637); typical are the emphasis on outlines, caught in supple, rather thick pen strokes, and areas of zig-zag hatching. Stylistic comparisons include a sheet in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels (inv. 4060⁄3023), related to a picture in the National Gallery, London (inv. NG6535), dated 1661; a sheet in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (inv. 6655), related to two paintings, including one in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. SK-A-106), dated in or around 1664 (ibid., nos. 637, 642, ill.; W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, II, New York, 1983, nos. 431, 441, 442, ill.); as well as several unrelated drawings (Sumowski, op. cit., 1980, nos. 753, 760, 762, 763, 817, ill.). The pathos and picturesque grouping of Oriental figures and animals afforded by episodes from the story of Joseph, and in particular the moment when he is sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites merchants (Genesis 37:28), attracted Van den Eeckhout on several occasions (for instance, see Sumowski, op. cit., 1980, nos. 655, 700, ill.).