Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels: Making the Case for Ferdinand Bol and Workshop

Ferdinand Bol,  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, 1646 or later, Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam

Ferdinand Bol (1618–1680) is credited with the authorship of two drawings of the same subject, Abraham Meeting the Angels. One is a quickly drawn sketch and the other is a detailed drawing. The former is housed in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, the latter, in the Graphsiche Sammlung Albertina, Vienna. This article examines two aspects of these works, subject and authorship. In the course of the twentieth century, the subject was identified as both God Appearing to Abraham and Abraham Greeting the Angels. Here the arguments in favor of a more accurate title, Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, are examined. The authorship of the drawings is examined in terms of style, manner of execution, and iconographic innovation. The evidence that emerges supports the existing attribution of the Rijkprentenkabinet’s drawing to Bol but argues for the attribution of the Albertina drawing to a Bol pupil.

DOI: 10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.13

Acknowledgements

I thank the staff of the Rijksprentenkabinet for granting me access to drawings by Ferdinand Bol during many visits over a period of years. I also thank Eva Michel of the Albertina for providing me with the opportunity to examine a selection of drawings by Rembrandt and his pupils in February of this year.

Ferdinand Bol,  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels,  1646 or later,  Rijksmuseum,  Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam
Fig. 1 Ferdinand Bol, Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, 1646 or later, pen and brown ink, white body color, 14.5 x 15.9 cm. Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-T-1930-1 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol (workshop/follower),  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels,  after 1646,  Graphische Sammlung Albertina,  Vienna
Fig. 2 Ferdinand Bol (workshop/follower), Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, after 1646, pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash, 17.6 x 20.3 cm. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, inv. no. 8764 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Annunciation,  ca. 1636–40,  Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo
Fig. 3 Ferdinand Bol, Annunciation, ca. 1636–40, pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, 19.4 x 16.5 cm. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo, inv. no. NG.K&H.B.15591 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert,  ca. 1636–40,  Lugt Collection, Paris
Fig. 4 Ferdinand Bol, The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert, ca. 1636–40, pen and brown and gray ink, gray wash, 29.3 x 18.5 cm. Lugt Collection, Paris, inv. no. 2529 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Agony in the Garden,  ca. 1645,  The British Museum, London
Fig. 5 Ferdinand Bol, Agony in the Garden, ca. 1645, pen and brown ink, touched with red chalk, brown, gray, and yellow wash. The British Museum, London, inv. no. 1918,0615.9 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Rembrandt,  Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, 1646,  Private collection
Fig. 6 Rembrandt, Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, 1646, oil on panel, 16.1 x 21.1 cm. Private collection (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Pieter Lastman,  Abraham Entertaining the Angels, 1616,  On loan to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel
Fig. 7 Pieter Lastman, Abraham Entertaining the Angels, 1616, oil on panel, 82 x 126 cm. On loan to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel(artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol (or workshop),  Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels,  ca. 1650,  Private collection
Fig. 8 Ferdinand Bol (or workshop), Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, ca. 1650, oil on canvas, 55.9 x 73.3 cm. Private collection (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels,  ca. 1660–63,  Rijksmuseum, gift of the Royaards Family, on loan to Noordbrabants Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Fig. 9 Ferdinand Bol, Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, ca. 1660–63, oil on canvas, 404 x 282.5 cm. Rijksmuseum, gift of the Royaards Family, on loan to Noordbrabants Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Lucas van Leyden,  Abraham and the Three Angels,  ca. 1513,  Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr., Providence
Fig. 10 Lucas van Leyden, Abraham and the Three Angels, ca. 1513, engraving, 17.8 x 13.8 cm. Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr., Providence, inv. no. 50.326 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Hagar at the Well on the Way to Shur, detail,  early-to-mid 1640s,  Rijksmuseum,  Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam
Fig. 11 Detail of Ferdinand Bol, Hagar at the Well on the Way to Shur, early-to-mid 1640s, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 18.2 x 23.2 cm. Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-T-1930-27 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol (workshop/follower),  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, detail,  after 1646,  Graphische Sammlung Albertina,  Vienna
Fig. 12 Detail of fig. 2 [side-by-side viewer]
  1. 1. The stylistic similarities between the Rijksmuseum sheet and those in Wrocław and the private American collection were noted by Werner Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School,  ed. and trans. by Walter L. Strauss (New York: Abaris Books, 1979–92), 1:219*, who illustrated the latter two as nos. 98 and 277,Xrespectively.

  2. 2. Ingrid Oud, “De tekeningen van Ferdinand Bol: De relatie tussen de stijl en de functie van de tekeningen,” Kunstlicht 13, no. 1 (1992): 3–10.

  3. 3. Jan L. Leja, “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt: Authorship and Iconography in Drawings of Biblical Subjects, c. 1636–c. 1650,” 2 vols. (PhD diss., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 2004).

  4. 4. Holm Bevers, Rembrandt, Die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2006); Holm Bevers et al, Drawings byRembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009); Peter Schatborn, Rembrandt and His Circle:Drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection, 2 vols. (Bussum: Thoth Publishers, 2010); Martin Royalton-Kisch, Catalogue of Drawingsby Rembrandt and His School in the British Museum, British Museum online catalogue, 2010 (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/
    publications/online_research_catalogues/rembrandt_drawings/drawings_by_rembrandt.aspx; accessed March 5, 2013); and Annemarie Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450–1850, 3 vols. (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2011).

  5. 5. The entries appear under the following numbers: Bevers et al., Drawings by Rembrandt, 84–85, fig. 8.2 (in color); Schatborn, Lugt Collection, vol. 1, pp. 108–11, no. 34; vol. 2, no. 34 (repr. in color); and Royalton-Kisch, British Museum online catalogue, 2010, Bol 4.

  6. 6. Sumowski, Drawings, vol. 5, nos. 1277–1281,xx identified Horst as the author of six drawings, one of which, David on His Death Bed (no. 1277) has also been called a preparatory drawing by Bol for his painting of the same subject (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin). Later, Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler (Landau: Edition PVA, 1979–83), vol. 5, under no. 2005, attributed the drawing to Bol. This author, however, has questioned whether the style of the drawing supports the attribution to Bol: Leja, “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt,”1:66–67.

  7. 7. This was the title accepted by John C. Van Dyke, The Rembrandt Drawings and Etchings with Critical Reassignments to Pupils and Followers (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927), 50, 54, when he published them as the work of Bol in 1927.

  8. 8. In the Statenbijbel (1719–20 edition) Abraham was described in Genesis 17:3 (folio 8) as “Doe viel Abram op sijn aengesichte.”

  9. 9. In Genesis 18:2 (folio 9) of the Statenbijbel (1719–20 edition) Abraham was described as “[Abram] boogh sich ter aerde.”

  10. 10. Michiel Roscam Abbing,“‘Abraham onthaalt de Heer en twee enegelen’: Opmerkingen over de titel van de Rembrandt-ets B.29,” Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 2 (1993): 28–34. This distinction was later noted by Netty van der Kamp, “Die Genesis: Die Urgeschichte udn die Geschichte der Erzväter,” in Im Lichte Rembrandts: Das Alte Testament im Goldenen Zeitalter der niederländischen Kunst, exh. cat. (Münster: Westfälisches Landesmuseum; Amsterdam: Joods Historisch Museum; and Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1994), 29; and Petra Jeroense andChristian Tümpel, “Abraham Serving the Lord and Two Angels,” in Patriarchs, Angels and Prophets: The Old Testament in Netherlandish Printmaking from Lucas van Leyden to Rembrandt, exh. cat. (Amsterdam: Museum het Rembrandthuis, 1996–97), 69–70.

  11. 11. Roscam Abbing, “‘Abraham onthaalt de Heer en twee engelen,’” 30, where the author acknowledges that it is not known whether Rembrandt owned a copy of the Statenbijbel.

  12. 12. Lastman painted a second version of this theme which is no longer extant but is known through an undated mezzotint by Jan van Somers (1635/55–1699). In the print Sarah is depicted much as she is in the painting; see F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, edited by K. G. Boon, complied by Dieuwke de Hoop Scheffer and George S. Keyes (Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1949 to present), 27:112, no. 1.

  13. 13. The authorship of the earlier painting has been questioned and it is sometimes attributed to a Bol pupil. Margriet van Eikema Hommes, Art and Allegiance in the Dutch Golden Age (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012), 105–09, leaves open the question of authorship.

  14. 14. Leja, “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt,” vol. 1, chapt 3, and pp. 214–16.

  15. 15. Sumowski, Drawings, 1:259.

  16. 16. The four include two drawings of Jacob’s Dream (Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Besançon, and Bibliothèque de l’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris); Three Marys at the Tomb (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich); and Hagar and the Angel on the Way to Shur (Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam).

  17. 17. The latter drawing is illustrated in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Drawings: A Selection from theMaida and George Abrams Collection, exh. cat. by William W. Robinson, with an introduction by Peter Schatborn (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet; Vienna: Graphische Sammlung Albertina; New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library; and Cambridge: Harvard University The Fogg Art Museum, 1991–92), cat. 45 (repr. in color).

Bevers, Holm. Rembrandt: Die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2006.

Bevers, Holm, et al. Drawings byRembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009.

Hollstein, F. W. H. Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts. 72 vols. Edited by K. G. Boon, compiled by Dieuwke de Hoop Scheffer and George S. Keyes. Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1949 to present.

Jeroense, Petra, andChristian Tümpel. “Abraham Serving the Lord and Two Angels.” In Patriarchs, Angels and Prophets: The Old Testament in Netherlandish Printmaking from Lucas van Leyden to Rembrandt. Exh. cat. by Peter van der Coelen with contributions by Christian Tümpel et al.Amsterdam: Museum het Rembrandthuis, 1996–97.

Leja, Jan L. “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt: Authorship and Iconography in Drawings of Biblical Subjects, c. 1636–c. 1650.” 2 vols. PhD diss. New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 2004.

Oud, Ingrid. “De tekeningen van Ferdinand Bol: De relatie tussen de stijl en de functie van de tekeningen.” Kunstlicht 13, no. 1 (1992): 3–10.

Robinson, William W., with Introduction by Peter Schatborn.Seventeenth-Century Dutch Drawings: A Selection from the Maida and George Abrams Collection. Exh. cat. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet; Vienna: Graphische Sammlung Albertina; New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library; and Cambridge: Harvard University, The Fogg Art Museum, 1991–92.

Roscam Abbing, Michiel. “‘Abraham onthaalt de Heer en twee engelen’: Opmerkingen over de titel van de Rembrandt-ets B 29.” Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 2 (1993): 28–34.

Royalton-Kisch, Martin. Catalogue of Drawingsby Rembrandt and His School in the British Museum. British Museum online catalogue, 2009. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/
rembrandt_drawings/drawings_by_rembrandt.aspx.  Accessed March 5, 2013.

Schatborn, Peter. Rembrandt and His Circle: Drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection. 2 vols. Bussum: Thoth Publishers, 2010.

Biblia, dat is gantsche H. Schrifture, vervattende alle de canonijcke boecken des Ouden en des Nieuwen Testaments. . . . [the so-called Statenbijbel]. Dordrecht: P. Keur, 1719–20.

Stefes, Annemarie. Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450–1850. 3 vols. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2011.

Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. 6 vols. Landau: Edition PVA, 1979–83.

Sumowski. Werner. Drawings of the Rembrandt School. 10 vols. Edited and translated by Walter L. Strauss. New York: Abaris Books, 1979–92.

Van der Kamp, Netty. “Die Genesis: Die Urgeschichte und die Geschichte der Erzväter.” In Im Lichte Rembrandts: Das Alte Testament im Goldenen Zeitalter der niederländischen Kunst. Exh. cat. by Christian Tümpel et al. Münster: Westfälisches Landesmuseum; Amsterdam: Joods Historisch Museum; and Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1994.

Van Dyke, John C.The Rembrandt Drawings and Etchings with Critical Reassignments to Pupils and Followers. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927.

Van Eikema Hommes, Margriet. Art and Allegiance in the Dutch Golden Age. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012.

List of Illustrations

Ferdinand Bol,  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels,  1646 or later,  Rijksmuseum,  Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam
Fig. 1 Ferdinand Bol, Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, 1646 or later, pen and brown ink, white body color, 14.5 x 15.9 cm. Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-T-1930-1 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol (workshop/follower),  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels,  after 1646,  Graphische Sammlung Albertina,  Vienna
Fig. 2 Ferdinand Bol (workshop/follower), Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, after 1646, pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash, 17.6 x 20.3 cm. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, inv. no. 8764 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Annunciation,  ca. 1636–40,  Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo
Fig. 3 Ferdinand Bol, Annunciation, ca. 1636–40, pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, 19.4 x 16.5 cm. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo, inv. no. NG.K&H.B.15591 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert,  ca. 1636–40,  Lugt Collection, Paris
Fig. 4 Ferdinand Bol, The Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Desert, ca. 1636–40, pen and brown and gray ink, gray wash, 29.3 x 18.5 cm. Lugt Collection, Paris, inv. no. 2529 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Agony in the Garden,  ca. 1645,  The British Museum, London
Fig. 5 Ferdinand Bol, Agony in the Garden, ca. 1645, pen and brown ink, touched with red chalk, brown, gray, and yellow wash. The British Museum, London, inv. no. 1918,0615.9 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Rembrandt,  Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, 1646,  Private collection
Fig. 6 Rembrandt, Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, 1646, oil on panel, 16.1 x 21.1 cm. Private collection (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Pieter Lastman,  Abraham Entertaining the Angels, 1616,  On loan to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel
Fig. 7 Pieter Lastman, Abraham Entertaining the Angels, 1616, oil on panel, 82 x 126 cm. On loan to Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel(artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol (or workshop),  Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels,  ca. 1650,  Private collection
Fig. 8 Ferdinand Bol (or workshop), Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, ca. 1650, oil on canvas, 55.9 x 73.3 cm. Private collection (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels,  ca. 1660–63,  Rijksmuseum, gift of the Royaards Family, on loan to Noordbrabants Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Fig. 9 Ferdinand Bol, Abraham Entertaining the Three Angels, ca. 1660–63, oil on canvas, 404 x 282.5 cm. Rijksmuseum, gift of the Royaards Family, on loan to Noordbrabants Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Lucas van Leyden,  Abraham and the Three Angels,  ca. 1513,  Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr., Providence
Fig. 10 Lucas van Leyden, Abraham and the Three Angels, ca. 1513, engraving, 17.8 x 13.8 cm. Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Gift of Murray S. Danforth, Jr., Providence, inv. no. 50.326 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol,  Hagar at the Well on the Way to Shur, detail,  early-to-mid 1640s,  Rijksmuseum,  Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam
Fig. 11 Detail of Ferdinand Bol, Hagar at the Well on the Way to Shur, early-to-mid 1640s, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 18.2 x 23.2 cm. Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-T-1930-27 (artwork in the public domain) [side-by-side viewer]
Ferdinand Bol (workshop/follower),  Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels, detail,  after 1646,  Graphische Sammlung Albertina,  Vienna
Fig. 12 Detail of fig. 2 [side-by-side viewer]

Footnotes

  1. 1. The stylistic similarities between the Rijksmuseum sheet and those in Wrocław and the private American collection were noted by Werner Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School,  ed. and trans. by Walter L. Strauss (New York: Abaris Books, 1979–92), 1:219*, who illustrated the latter two as nos. 98 and 277,Xrespectively.

  2. 2. Ingrid Oud, “De tekeningen van Ferdinand Bol: De relatie tussen de stijl en de functie van de tekeningen,” Kunstlicht 13, no. 1 (1992): 3–10.

  3. 3. Jan L. Leja, “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt: Authorship and Iconography in Drawings of Biblical Subjects, c. 1636–c. 1650,” 2 vols. (PhD diss., New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 2004).

  4. 4. Holm Bevers, Rembrandt, Die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2006); Holm Bevers et al, Drawings byRembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009); Peter Schatborn, Rembrandt and His Circle:Drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection, 2 vols. (Bussum: Thoth Publishers, 2010); Martin Royalton-Kisch, Catalogue of Drawingsby Rembrandt and His School in the British Museum, British Museum online catalogue, 2010 (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/
    publications/online_research_catalogues/rembrandt_drawings/drawings_by_rembrandt.aspx; accessed March 5, 2013); and Annemarie Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450–1850, 3 vols. (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2011).

  5. 5. The entries appear under the following numbers: Bevers et al., Drawings by Rembrandt, 84–85, fig. 8.2 (in color); Schatborn, Lugt Collection, vol. 1, pp. 108–11, no. 34; vol. 2, no. 34 (repr. in color); and Royalton-Kisch, British Museum online catalogue, 2010, Bol 4.

  6. 6. Sumowski, Drawings, vol. 5, nos. 1277–1281,xx identified Horst as the author of six drawings, one of which, David on His Death Bed (no. 1277) has also been called a preparatory drawing by Bol for his painting of the same subject (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin). Later, Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler (Landau: Edition PVA, 1979–83), vol. 5, under no. 2005, attributed the drawing to Bol. This author, however, has questioned whether the style of the drawing supports the attribution to Bol: Leja, “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt,”1:66–67.

  7. 7. This was the title accepted by John C. Van Dyke, The Rembrandt Drawings and Etchings with Critical Reassignments to Pupils and Followers (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927), 50, 54, when he published them as the work of Bol in 1927.

  8. 8. In the Statenbijbel (1719–20 edition) Abraham was described in Genesis 17:3 (folio 8) as “Doe viel Abram op sijn aengesichte.”

  9. 9. In Genesis 18:2 (folio 9) of the Statenbijbel (1719–20 edition) Abraham was described as “[Abram] boogh sich ter aerde.”

  10. 10. Michiel Roscam Abbing,“‘Abraham onthaalt de Heer en twee enegelen’: Opmerkingen over de titel van de Rembrandt-ets B.29,” Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 2 (1993): 28–34. This distinction was later noted by Netty van der Kamp, “Die Genesis: Die Urgeschichte udn die Geschichte der Erzväter,” in Im Lichte Rembrandts: Das Alte Testament im Goldenen Zeitalter der niederländischen Kunst, exh. cat. (Münster: Westfälisches Landesmuseum; Amsterdam: Joods Historisch Museum; and Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1994), 29; and Petra Jeroense andChristian Tümpel, “Abraham Serving the Lord and Two Angels,” in Patriarchs, Angels and Prophets: The Old Testament in Netherlandish Printmaking from Lucas van Leyden to Rembrandt, exh. cat. (Amsterdam: Museum het Rembrandthuis, 1996–97), 69–70.

  11. 11. Roscam Abbing, “‘Abraham onthaalt de Heer en twee engelen,’” 30, where the author acknowledges that it is not known whether Rembrandt owned a copy of the Statenbijbel.

  12. 12. Lastman painted a second version of this theme which is no longer extant but is known through an undated mezzotint by Jan van Somers (1635/55–1699). In the print Sarah is depicted much as she is in the painting; see F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, edited by K. G. Boon, complied by Dieuwke de Hoop Scheffer and George S. Keyes (Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1949 to present), 27:112, no. 1.

  13. 13. The authorship of the earlier painting has been questioned and it is sometimes attributed to a Bol pupil. Margriet van Eikema Hommes, Art and Allegiance in the Dutch Golden Age (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012), 105–09, leaves open the question of authorship.

  14. 14. Leja, “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt,” vol. 1, chapt 3, and pp. 214–16.

  15. 15. Sumowski, Drawings, 1:259.

  16. 16. The four include two drawings of Jacob’s Dream (Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Besançon, and Bibliothèque de l’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris); Three Marys at the Tomb (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich); and Hagar and the Angel on the Way to Shur (Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam).

  17. 17. The latter drawing is illustrated in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Drawings: A Selection from theMaida and George Abrams Collection, exh. cat. by William W. Robinson, with an introduction by Peter Schatborn (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet; Vienna: Graphische Sammlung Albertina; New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library; and Cambridge: Harvard University The Fogg Art Museum, 1991–92), cat. 45 (repr. in color).

Bibliography

Bevers, Holm. Rembrandt: Die Zeichnungen im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2006.

Bevers, Holm, et al. Drawings byRembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009.

Hollstein, F. W. H. Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts. 72 vols. Edited by K. G. Boon, compiled by Dieuwke de Hoop Scheffer and George S. Keyes. Amsterdam: Van Gendt & Co., 1949 to present.

Jeroense, Petra, andChristian Tümpel. “Abraham Serving the Lord and Two Angels.” In Patriarchs, Angels and Prophets: The Old Testament in Netherlandish Printmaking from Lucas van Leyden to Rembrandt. Exh. cat. by Peter van der Coelen with contributions by Christian Tümpel et al.Amsterdam: Museum het Rembrandthuis, 1996–97.

Leja, Jan L. “Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt: Authorship and Iconography in Drawings of Biblical Subjects, c. 1636–c. 1650.” 2 vols. PhD diss. New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 2004.

Oud, Ingrid. “De tekeningen van Ferdinand Bol: De relatie tussen de stijl en de functie van de tekeningen.” Kunstlicht 13, no. 1 (1992): 3–10.

Robinson, William W., with Introduction by Peter Schatborn.Seventeenth-Century Dutch Drawings: A Selection from the Maida and George Abrams Collection. Exh. cat. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet; Vienna: Graphische Sammlung Albertina; New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library; and Cambridge: Harvard University, The Fogg Art Museum, 1991–92.

Roscam Abbing, Michiel. “‘Abraham onthaalt de Heer en twee engelen’: Opmerkingen over de titel van de Rembrandt-ets B 29.” Kroniek van het Rembrandthuis 2 (1993): 28–34.

Royalton-Kisch, Martin. Catalogue of Drawingsby Rembrandt and His School in the British Museum. British Museum online catalogue, 2009. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/publications/online_research_catalogues/
rembrandt_drawings/drawings_by_rembrandt.aspx.  Accessed March 5, 2013.

Schatborn, Peter. Rembrandt and His Circle: Drawings in the Frits Lugt Collection. 2 vols. Bussum: Thoth Publishers, 2010.

Biblia, dat is gantsche H. Schrifture, vervattende alle de canonijcke boecken des Ouden en des Nieuwen Testaments. . . . [the so-called Statenbijbel]. Dordrecht: P. Keur, 1719–20.

Stefes, Annemarie. Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450–1850. 3 vols. Cologne, Weimar, Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2011.

Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. 6 vols. Landau: Edition PVA, 1979–83.

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Review: Peer Review (Double Blind)
DOI: 10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.13
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Recommended Citation:
Jan L. Leja, "Abraham Meeting the Lord and Two Angels: Making the Case for Ferdinand Bol and Workshop," Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 5:2 (Summer 2013) DOI: 10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.13