Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
1606-1669
An Archer and a Ruler, Two Men in Long Robes
5 5/8 x 7 7/8 inches (143 x 200 mm); Decorative mount: 8 1/16 x 10 5/16 (205 x 262 mm)
Pen and brown ink and wash, on laid paper; traces of a framing line in black chalk.
I, 211
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.
Notes
Watermark: none visible through lining with fiber optic light.
The inscription, which translates as "those who are in disgrace [i.e. have not killed an enemy] are unshorn," is a paraphrase in Dutch of a passage from Tacitus' "Germania". It refers to a custom among the Chatti (tribal ancestors of the Dutch), whereby the young men grew their hair and remained unshaven until they had slain their first enemy in battle.
The inscription, which translates as "those who are in disgrace [i.e. have not killed an enemy] are unshorn," is a paraphrase in Dutch of a passage from Tacitus' "Germania". It refers to a custom among the Chatti (tribal ancestors of the Dutch), whereby the young men grew their hair and remained unshaven until they had slain their first enemy in battle.
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed by the artist at upper right, in brown ink, "in ongenaeden sÿnden / en werden niet / geschooren"; on the old mount at lower right, in graphite, "Coninck".; numbered on the verso, in upper right corner (upside down), in black ink, "A 22 [A underlined and superscript] [22 subscript]"; in opposite direction at lower left, in graphite, "A D [A underlined and superscript] [D in subscript]"; and further to the right, also in graphite, "9- 2 [9- superscript] [2 subscript]".
Associated names
Koninck, Philips, 1619-1688, Formerly attributed to.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 211, repr. (as "ascribed to P. Koninck").
Jane Shoaf Turner, with contributions by Felice Stampfle, Dutch Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library: Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries, New York, 2006, cat. no. 212.
Jane Shoaf Turner, with contributions by Felice Stampfle, Dutch Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library: Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries, New York, 2006, cat. no. 212.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Catalog link
Department