Quality in Detail. The Juli and Andrew Wieg Collection
Quality in Detail. The Juli and Andrew Wieg Collection
Leonaert Bramer
Jacob recognising the blood-stained coat of Joseph
Lot Closed
March 24, 02:48 PM GMT
Estimate
2,400 - 3,400 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Leonaert Bramer
Delft 1596 - 1674
Jacob recognising the blood-stained coat of Joseph
Brush and grey and black ink on paper prepared yellowish brown;
signed lower left in pen and brown ink (partially cut): Bramer ft and bears attribution and inscription identifying the subject of drawing in black chalk, verso
unframed: 426 by 590 mm
framed: 660 by 847 mm
their sale, Amsterdam, 19 January 1904, lot 57 (Dfl. 3.50 to Brassel);
Dr. J.A. van Dongen;
with Kunsthandel Drs. John H. Schlichte Bergen, Amsterdam, c. 1990
Delft, Museum het Prinsenhof, Leonaert Bramer 1596-1674: Ingenious Painter and Draughtsman in Rome and Delft, 1994, no. 28
Leonaert Bramer was one of the most prolific draughtsmen of his time and occupies a unique position in Dutch 17th-century art. He is perhaps best known for producing drawings in illustrative sets and series, treating a wide variety of themes from the Bible, classical mythology, classical history and popular literature. See lots 48-52 for other examples of Bramer's approach to a variety of subjects.
The popular biblical narrative of Jacob and his son Joseph was frequently depicted by Dutch artists of the 17th-century, especially by Rembrandt and his circle. A sketch by Bramer shows the artist copying a version of the subject executed by Jan Lievens.1 In his 1994 catalogue entry for the present drawing, Michiel Plomp comments, however, on the rarity of this precise subject, Jacob recognising his son's blood-stained garment, within Bramer's oeuvre. Apart from the present sheet, the aforementioned sketch, and one painting recorded in an 18th-century description, there are no other known depictions.
It is intriguing that the present drawing is so large in scale, raising the question of whether it was made as a preparatory study for a specific commission. Plomp notes the existence (on the Paris art market in 1991) of another large drawing by Bramer, probably also dating to the 1650s, illustrating Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream, but remarks that it is unlikely that these two drawings were made as pendants, since one is on toned white paper and the other is on blue paper. He considers that their scale may simply suggest they were commissioned as finished drawings by someone who could not afford the cost of a painting.
1. Reproduced exh. cat., op. cit., Delft 1994, fig. 28a