1997.207: Christ at the Well of Sychar

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1997.207

People

School of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Dutch (Leiden 1606 - 1669 Amsterdam)

Title

Christ at the Well of Sychar

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

17th century

Culture

Dutch

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/299430

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Brown ink, brown wash, and white opaque watercolor on cream antique laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

17.1 x 24.6 cm (6 3/4 x 9 11/16 in.), irregular
mount: 18.9 x 26.6 cm (7 7/16 x 10 1/2 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• gallery label: former paper backing, ink on paper, printed, French: Three pieces of paper, apparently cut from the sale catalogue. 1) Vente a Amsterdam/ les 12-15 Décembre 1922/ Direction/ Frederik Muller & Cie./ (Ant. W. M. Mensing)/ Doelenstraat 16-18. 2) Dessins de Rembrandt/ Provenant de la collection Mr. F. J. M. A. Reekers,/ Amsterdam; d'un amateur Russe, etc. 3) 1902 Le Repas des Pauvres./ A l'avant-plan à droite, on voit un bassin et à gauche, deux figures/ debout. Au centre de l'avant-plan, un groupe de personnes accroupies/ et assises, qui attendent des tranches de pain qu'un d'eux est occupé/ à couper. Au-dessus de ce groupe apparait vers la droite, le Christ dans/ une grande auréole. Presque le quart du dessin à gauche en haut, est/ occupé par une assemblée d'environ quinze personnes qui se trouvent/ devant la colonnade d'un palais et regardent la scène./ Dessin à sépia et un peu rehaussé de blanc. - Haut. 17.3, larg. 24 cent.
• gallery label: former paper backing, ink on paper, printed, German: Kunsthandlung/ Rath A.-G./ Basel/ Aeschenvorstadt 37. In center of label a cursive R surrounded by three black shields and a circle.
• label: former paper backing, ink on paper, printed, German: Circular label: Dr. Tobias Christ. Basel/ Advokat und Notar.
• exhibition label: former paper backing, ink on paper, printed and handwritten, Dutch & English: Printing in Dutch, handwriting in English. Tentoonstelling van Nederlandsche Kunst/ 1400-1900 Londen 1929/ drawing/ Kunstenaar: Rembrandt/ Onderwerp: Christ and the poor/ Eigenaar: Dr. Tobias Christ/ Adres: Langrgasse 30, Basel/ Kist no. 92 T. C. 101.
• watermark: in drawing: foolscap
  
  
  
  Beta will not be made. Mount is too thick.
• inscription: mount, lower right, graphite: Rembrandt [?]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Kunsthandlung Rath A.-G., Basel]. [Frederik Muller & Co., Amsterdam, 12-15 December 1922, lot 1902]. Tobias Christ, Basel, 1925, to his heirs, 1951. Private Collector, Basel, sold;[Sotheby's, London, 9 April 1981, lot 25H], sold; to [Vermeer Associates Limited, Brampton, Ontario, 1981], long-term loan to; Fogg Art Museum, 1981, sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1997.

NOTE: M. Rotermund remarked in 1951 ("Christus am Brunnen bei Sichar," p. 9) that the drawing was then in the possession of Dr. Christ's heirs in Basel. Note from Sotheby's to the subsequent owner (in file) identifies the drawing as bought in "the Christ sale."

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of an anonymous donor in honor of Werner H. Kramarsky

Accession Year

1997

Object Number

1997.207

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• William R. Valentiner, Die Handzeichnungen Rembrandts, E. Weyhe Gallery and Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (New York and Stuttgart, Germany, 1925), vol. 1, p. 423, fig. 405
• William R. Valentiner, Rembrandt; des Meisters Handzeichnungen, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (Stuttgart, Germany, 1925), vol. I, repr. p. 440, fig. 423
• Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, "Einige Betrachtungen über die Ausstellung Holländischer Kunst in London", Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft (1929), vol. L, no. 3, p. 141
• Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of Dutch Art, exh. cat., Oxford University Press (UK) (London, England, 1930), p. 209, no. 620
• Hans-Martin Rotermund, "Christus am Brunnen bei Sichar", Oud Holland (1951), vol. LXVI, no. 1, pp. 9-15, fig. 1
• Hans-Martin Rotermund, "The Motif of Radiance in Rembrandt's Biblical Drawings", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (London, England, 1952), vol. XV, nos. 3-4, pp. 110-11, pl. 22d
• Otto Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt, Phaidon Press (Oxford, 1954 - 1957), vol. VI, no. A71, fig. 1679
• Hans-Martin Rotermund, "Unidentifizierte bzw. missverstandene Zeichnungen Rembrandts zu biblischen Szenen", Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch (Cologne, 1959), 21, pp. 198-99, pl. 117
• Jakob Rosenberg, Review of Otto Benesch, "The Drawings of Rembrandt", vols. III-VI, The Art Bulletin (1959), vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 108-19, pp. 117-18
• Werner Sumowski, Bemerkungen zu Otto Beneschs Corpus der Rembrandt-Zeichnungen II (Bad Pyrmont, 1961), p. 26
• Hans-Martin Rotermund, Rembrandts Handzeichnungen und Radierungen zur Bibel, Ernst Kaufmann Lahr (Stuttgart, Germany, 1963), pp. 187, 315, repr. p. 255, fig. 209
• Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, Review of H. M. Rotermund, "Rembrandts Handzeichnungen und Radierungen zur Bibel, Master Drawings (1966), vol. IV, no. 1, p. 50
• Hans-Martin Rotermund, Rembrandt's Drawings and Etchings for the Bible, Pilgrim Press (Philadelphia, PA, 1969), pp. 187, 315, repr. p. 255, fig. 209
• Otto Benesch, The Drawings of Rembrandt [enlarged ed.], Phaidon Press (Oxford, 1973), vol. VI, no. A71, fig. 1733

Exhibition History

• Ausstellung von Kunstwerken des 15 bis 18 Jahrhunderts, aus Basler Privatbesitz, Kunstverein Basel, Basel, 04/15/1928 - 05/28/1928
• Exhibition of Dutch Art 1450-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 01/01/1929 - 03/31/1929
• Rembrandt, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, 04/18/1937 - 05/30/1937
• Rembrandt, Hokusai, van Gogh, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, 01/01/1952 - 02/29/1952
• Rembrandt and His School: Drawings from the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen Rotterdam, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 12/02/1989 - 01/28/1990

Subjects and Contexts

• Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Verification Level