Lot 174: The Holy Family

Attributed to Abraham van Dijck (Amsterdam 1635/36-1680 Dordrecht) The Holy Family with inscription 'Rembrandt' pen and brown ink, brown and pink wash 5 x 7¼ in. (13 x 18.4 cm.)

13 x 18.4 cm.

London, Colnaghi, and Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Loan exhibition of drawings by old masters from the collection of Mr Geoffrey Gathorne-Hardy, 1971, no. 42 (catalogue by C. White and J. Stock).

Descriptive Catalogue of Drawings... in the possession of the Hon. A.E. Gathorne-Hardy, London, 1902, no. 92 (as Rembrandt).

Sir John Charles Robinson (1824-1913) (L. 1433 in gold). John Malcolm (1805-1893), his catalogue no. 767 (as Rembrandt); and thence by descent to his son-in-law The Hon. Alfred Erskine Gathorne-Hardy (1845-1918); Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy (1878-1972); The Hon. Robert Gathorne-Hardy; Sotheby's Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 3 May 1976, lot 13.

In the 1976 catalogue similarities in composition were noted between the present work and Rembrandt's drawing of the same subject in the British Museum (Benesch 516). It was identified as the work of a pupil active in Rembrandt's studio in the 1640s and, on stylistic grounds, an attribution to Abraham van Dijck seems very plausible.