The Degradation of Haman before Ahasuerus and Esther

Public Domain

Prints and Drawings

1630s

School of Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669) contemporary with Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615-1660)
with corrections by Rembrandt or a member of Rembrandt workshop

Although many attributions are based on visual observation, technical methods in use since the early 1900s provide material evidence that can supplement what the unassisted eye can register. In other words, investigating a work’s material composition and physical structure allows experts to base an attribution on how a work was made in addition to what it looks like. Current forms of analysis include technical imaging like beta radiography, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and hyperspectral photography, as well as examination under strong magnification. Technical analysis of this drawing has found that two distinct campaigns of execution took place at different times and that two different types of ink were used. These findings support a hypothesis that the drawing was started by a member of Rembrandt’s workshop and then corrected by Rembrandt or one of the more advanced students under his supervision.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: School of Rembrandt van Rijn
Title: The Degradation of Haman before Ahasuerus and Esther
Place: Holland (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1630–1639
Medium: Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, on cream laid paper
Inscriptions: Inscribed verso, lower left, in graphite: ‘"P19" and "C"
Dimensions: 19.6 × 16.8 cm (7 3/4 × 6 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: The Charles Deering Collection
Reference Number: 1927.5193
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/49237/manifest.json

W. McC. McK. “Drawings from the Charles Deering Collection,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago XXII (May, 1928), p. 65 (as De Gelder)
Daniel Catton Rich, “Two Drawings of the Rembrandt School,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago XXIII: 5 (1929), p. 53–55 (ill.) (as Aert de Gelder?).
Hans Tietze, European Master Drawings in the United States (New York, 1947), pp. 150–151, no. 75 (ill.) (as Aert de Gelder).
Nathan Goldstein, The Art of Responsive Drawing, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, N. J., 1999), pp. 349–350, fig. 12.22.
Shelley Perlove and George S. Keyes (editors), Seventeenth-Century European Drawings in Midwestern Collections (South Bend Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2014), pp. 174, no. 69, 175 (ill.) (as school of Rembrandt).

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Lent from American Collections, June 1–November 1, 1933, p. 86, cat. 805 (as Arent de Gelder).
Art Institute of Chicago, [Loan Exhibition of] Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings by Rembrandt and His Circle, Dec. 19, 1935–Jan. 19, p. 38–39, cat. 49 (as Arent de Gelder).
Worcester Art Museum, Rembrandt and his Circle, A Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings, Feb. 4–Mar. 1, 1936, p. 44, no. 49 (as Arent de Gelder).
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Rubens, Rembrandt, and Drawing in the Golden Age”, September 28, 2019 - January 5, 2020, pp. 65, 67 (ill.), 310, 334, cat. 18, cat. by Victoria Sancho Lobis, et. al.

15th Earl of Shrewsbury (1753–1827), Alton Towers, Staffordshire, England [Deering collection records]. Charles Deering (1852–1927), Chicago [stamp (Lugt 516) verso, lower left, in blue]; by descent to his daughters, Mrs. Chauncey McCormick (née Marion Deering; 1886–1965), Chicago and Mrs. Richard Ely Danielson (née Barbara Deering; 1885–1957), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1927.

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Currently Off View

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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The Degradation of Haman before Ahasuerus and Esther

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Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Inscriptions

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.