Lot 25: Aert de Gelder (Dordrecht 1645-1727)

Judah and Tamar
with indistinct signature 'Rembrandt f.' (lower left)
oil on canvas
43 7/8 x 41 in. (111.5 x 104.1 cm.)

K. Lilienfeld, 'Arent de Gelder. Sein Leben und seine Kunst', Quellenstudien zur Holländischen Kunstgeschichte, IV, The Hague, 1914, no. 14 ('Juda und Thamar. Sie sitzt und fasst sein Kinn an. Er beugt sich über sie. Lebensgrosse Figuren. Ein rotes Kostüm fällt stark ins Auge. - Nach H. de G. sehr charakteristisches Werk de Geldes, das vom Besitzer Rembrandt zugeschrieben wird').
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandts-Schüler, V, Landau, 1983, p. 301, no. 2090, illustrated.
J.W. von Moltke, Arent de Gelder. Dordrecht 1645-1727, Doornspijk, 1994, pp. 111-2, no. D3 (Doubtful paintings) and p. 120, no. L11 (Paintings known from literary sources only).

Conde de Magãlhaes, Palace of S. José, Lisbon, and by descent.

THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN NOBLE FAMILY (LOTS 25, 124, 125 and 172)

Born into a wealthy Dordrecht family, Aert de Gelder belongs to a later generation of Rembrandt-inspired painters; indeed, he was Rembrandt's last pupil, and went on to produce a small oeuvre of just over one hundred paintings, mainly devoted to Old Testament subjects and portraiture. Very little is known about the training de Gelder received during the two years he spent in the elderly Rembrandt's studio (circa 1662-4), but Arnold Houbraken's biography of de Gelder in De Groote Schouburgh (III, 1721, pp. 206-8) is an invaluable source, not least because Houbraken knew de Gelder personally. Houbraken records that de Gelder was first apprenticed to the Dordrecht artist Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678), and wrote in fascinating detail of Hoogstraten's studio practice. History painting was the main focus, and to this end each week pupils were obliged to sketch a biblical subject, to develop both compositional skills and to learn to convey mood through gesture and facial expression (Moltke, op. cit., pp. 3-4). If the resulting drawing was deemed unsatisfactory, the pupil would be expected to recite the relevant Biblical passage. This exploration of Biblical narrative was taken even further through a series of exercises, and Houbraken's attic even had a stage upon which plays would be enacted, providing opportunities to explore gesture, action and reaction, as well as study the effect of shadow and silhouette.

The dramatis personae in this painting are from the Old Testament story of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38:14-18), a subject that was apparently never depicted by Rembrandt himself, but was treated by artists in his circle, notably Willem Drost, Ferdinand Bol and Pieter Lastman. Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah, and the widow, in succession, of his two eldest sons. According to the Israelite law of levirate (from the latin levir, meaing a husband's brother), Tamar had consequently been promised to the youngest son to guarantee the continuation of the family line, a promise that Judah had failed to keep. One day, after the death of her mother-in-law, Tamar cast off her widow's weeds and disguised herself as a veiled prostitute, catching her father-in-law's eye. Before seducing him (and thus ensuring next generation), she asked him for his ring, cord and staff as pledges, which she later used to prove his paternity. It is the moment of seduction that is conveyed here: the two half-length, life-size figures (a compositional device also favoured by Rembrandt) stand illuminated against a shadowy background. Characteristic attention is given to the rendition of the exotic Old Testament garments; the reds, browns, gold and white fabrics and trimmings all richly rendered with a heavily-laden brush, scumbled and layered.

De Gelder painted this subject at least three other times (see Moltke, op. cit, nos. 11-13). The earliest treatment, thought to date from 1667 (Europe, private collection), shows an aggressive, calculating scene; the second, and most explicit, treatment of the subject is dated to around 1681 (The Hague, Mauritshuis, inv. no. 1895), and the third recorded picture (Milwaukee, Dr. A. Bader) is signed and dated 1681. The present picture has remained in the same family collection for about 100 years, and is consequently not well-known. Professor Werner Sumowski identified the picture and similarly dates it to the early 1680s (loc. cit.), a view that he has recently reiterated (private communication). Moltke, at the time of his publication, only knew the work from a bad reproduction and on that basis included it under Doubtful paintings, noting that the old photograph was impossible to judge. He also recorded Judah and Tamar again under works known only from literary sources.

As Moltke has noted, Old Testament stories relating to an older man's desire for a younger woman were evidently alluring subjects for the artist, also providing fertile themes of female trickery, disguise and seduction; it is interesting to note that the 1680s was also the moment when de Gelder explored the theme of Lot and his Daughters. Ever intrigued by the range of psychological perspectives within the same story, de Gelder here shows Tamar reaching out and gently touching Judah's chin ('the ancient gesture of erotic persuasion'), their arms intertwining. Although the subject is nominally Judah and Tamar, the picture is much more subtle, and should be considered a humane study of gesture and emotion, as well as composition, combined with a skilful study of light and surface texture.

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