Lot 51: Salomon van Ruysdael (Naarden c. 1600/3-1670 Haarlem)

Philip and the Eunuch signed with initials and dated 'svr 1630' (lower left) oil on canvas 301/4 x 381/4 in. (76.8 x 97 cm.) PROVENANCE with A.H. Buttery, London; Christie's, London, 7 June 1912, lot 89, as 'S. van Ruysdael' (unsold). with A.S. Drey, Munich, 1915. Dr. K. Erasmus, Berlin, 1931. LITERATURE W. Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin, 1975, p. 85, no. 118. NOTES The subject was popular in Dutch art at the time, being treated by Lastman four times in his career (for the first time in 1623), and by Rembrandt three times in oil and once as an etching, including an oil of the same date as the present picture. Salomon himself had painted the subject in 1634, in a closely related composition. The story derives from Acts, VIII: 27 ff., and tells how a eunuch, the treasurer of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, whilst returning from Jerusalem, was converted to Christianity through a discussion with the apostle, Philip, about a passage from Isaiah.