Christ before Herod
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 18 x 14,3 cm
Inventory numberNMH 1961/1863
Other titlesTitel (sv): Kristus inför Herodes Titel (en): Christ before Herod
DescriptionDescription: Pen and brown ink, point of brush in grey, grey wash, 180 x 143 mm. Ruled framing lines in grey ink. Mark of the Royal Collection (Lugt 1638). Numbered in the lower right corner, in pen and brown ink, 3, and 6(…), struck out. Inscribed verso on the mount, in graphite, Bramer. Eleve de Rhimbrandt. First summarily sketched in pen and ink and then finished with the brush, the main outlines strengthened with darker grey. The style is very close to the drawings in an album of illustrations to the New Testament in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, tentatively dated around 1660, although the Amsterdam drawings are coloured and not monochrome; the figures have the same proportionally small heads. The composition is very similar to Christ before Herod in the Amsterdam album (fol. 50). The main characters are the same, in the same positions, and Herod is sitting on a similar throne with a large drapery behind him. In our drawing Herod wears a turban and not a crown, and there is no figure on the podium next to him. Instead there are three figures behind Christ, and behind them a window is seen. In the Amsterdam drawing the drapery covers the entire background, but a window appears in a similar scene of Christ before Caiaphas (fol. 49). The present drawing is larger than those in Amsterdam, which measure c. 125 x 93 mm. About a dozen series illustrating the New Testament have been identified, but the present drawing does not seem to belong to any of them. [Magnusson, Dutch Drawings no. 100]
Collection
Geographical origin
TechniqueDrawing, Wash drawing
Object category