AERT DE GELDER (DORDRECHT 1645-1727)
AERT DE GELDER (DORDRECHT 1645-1727)
AERT DE GELDER (DORDRECHT 1645-1727)
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Property from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
AERT DE GELDER (DORDRECHT 1645-1727)

Homer dictating to scribes

Details
AERT DE GELDER (DORDRECHT 1645-1727)
Homer dictating to scribes
signed 'A de Gelder f' (strengthened, upper left)
oil on canvas
39 ½ x 50 ¼ in. (100.3 x 127.3 cm.)
Provenance
Pieter Steijn (1706-1772), The Hague, and by descent to his wife,
Cornelia Schellinger Steijn (1714-1783), The Hague; her deceased sale, Rietmulder, The Hague, 7-8 October 1783, lot 65 (f 21.5).
Anonymous sale; v.d. Schley, et al., Amsterdam, 23 May 1798, lot 67 (f 26 to Berkenbosch).
Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult (1769-1851), 1st Duke of Dalmatia, Paris; his deceased sale, Lebrun, Paris, 17 May 1852, lot 150, as École de Rembrandt (FF 85 to Bonnefons).
Beaumont collection, Paris, from which likely acquired by the following,
with Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co., Inc., where acquired for $6,500 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on 12 January 1939.
Literature
K. Lilienfeld, 'Arent de Gelder. Sein Leben und seine Kunst,' Quellenstudien zur holländischen Kunstgeschichte, IV, The Hague, 1914, pp. 188-189, no. 147.
C.C. Cunningham, 'Four paintings of the Rembrandt School at Boston,' Art In America, October 1939, pp. 189-191, fig. 3.
W.G. Constable, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in Oil, Tempera and Pastel, Boston, 1955, p. 27.
W. Sumowski, 'Nachträge zum Rembrandt 1956,' Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humbolt Universität zu Berlin, Gesellschafts-und Sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe, 1957-1958, pp. 227 and 257, fig. 35.
H. Gerson, Rembrandt Paintings, Amsterdam, 1968, p. 140, illustrated.
A. Bredius, Rembrandt: the complete edition of the paintings, H. Gerson, ed., London and New York, 1969, p. 596, under no. 483.
D.R. van Fossen, The Paintings of Aert de Gelder, Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1969, no. 38.
A. Blankert, 'Rembrandt, Zeuxis and ideal beauty,' Album Amicorum J.G. van Gelder, The Hague, 1973, p. 38, note 18.
A. Pigler, Barockthemen, II, Budapest, 1974, p. 563.
J. Bolten and H. Bolten-Rempt, The Hidden Rembrandt, New York, 1977, p. 168.
A.B. de Vries, M. Tóth-Ubbens and W. Froentjes, Rembrandt in the Mauritshuis, Alphen a.d. Rijn, 1978, p. 174, fig. 144.
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, II, Landau/Pfalz, 1983, pp. 1168 and 1220, no. 760, illustrated.
A. Blankert, 'Dutch History Painting in the Mauritshuis,' in The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, H.R. Hoetink, ed., The Hague, 1985, pp. 31-32, fig. 2.
A. R. Murphy, European Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue, Boston, 1985, p. 112, illustrated.
B. Broos, Meesterwerken in Het Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1987, pp. 304-305, under no. 51, fig. 6.
J. Bruyn, 'Rembrandt's workshop: its function & production,' in Rembrandt: the Master & his Workshop, exhibition catalogue, New Haven and London, 1991, pp. 85-86, fig. 106, note 94.
A. Jensen Adams, et al., Leselust: Niederläandische Malerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, 1993, pp. 196-197, no. 31.
J.W. von Moltke, Arent de Gelder: Dordrecht 1645-1727, Doornspijk, 1994, p. 95, no. 76, color pl. XXXII, pl. 76.
P.C. Sutton in, Rembrandt: A Genius and his Impact, exhibition catalogue, Melbourne, pp. 318-319, no. 71, illustrated.
M. de Winkel in, Arent de Gelder (1645-1727): Rembrandts Laatste leerling, exhibition catalogue, Ghent, 1998, pp. 216-219, no. 41, illustrated.
Exhibited
Wilmington, DE, Delaware Art Center, Paintings by Dutch Masters of the Seventeenth Century, 6 May-17 June 1951, no. 12.
Frankfurt, Schirn-Kunsthalle, Leselust: Niederländische Malerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer, 24 September 1993-2 January 1994, no. 31.
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria and Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, Rembrandt: A Genius and his Impact, 1 October - 7 December 1997 and 17 December - 15 February 1998, no. 71.
Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum and Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Arent de Gelder (1645-1727): Rembrandts Laatste leerling, 10 October 1998-17 January 1999 and 19 February 1999-19 May 1999, no. 41.

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Taylor Alessio
Taylor Alessio Junior Specialist, Head of Part II

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Lot Essay

Aert de Gelder is best remembered as Rembrandt's last pupil, having studied in the master's workshop in the 1660s before returning to his native Dordrecht. Throughout de Gelder's career his style remained close to his teacher's, with loose and fluid brushwork and an overall muted palette. De Gelder often took thematic inspiration from Rembrandt as well. The present painting, datable to the first decade of the eighteenth century, is likely derived from a composition by Rembrandt, known today in a fragmentary state (fig. 1). Rembrandt's Homer was commissioned by the Sicilian collector Don Antonio Ruffo as part of a larger series of half-length figures by various artists. Rembrandt's painting must have also included the scribes, as two fingers holding a pen can just be made out in the lower right hand corner of the painting. This is further confirmed by a drawing now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. no. NMH 1677⁄1875). The young de Gelder may well have seen Rembrandt's composition in an unfinished state in his master's studio, as various documents attest to it still being with the artist in July of 1661 and 1662. It was only completed and delivered to Ruffo in 1664. De Gelder appears to have largely retained Rembrandt's composition, though in reverse.

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