Abraham Dismissing Hagar and Ishmael | Barent Fabritius | All | European Paintings | Collection Database | Works of Art

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Signed and dated (bottom center): BFabritius [BF in monogram, with B reversed] / 1658

NotesOther paintings of this subject by Fabritius are in the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco (about 1650), and the Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull (about 1666).

Provenance?Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (possibly acting as agent for Chambers); ?Sir William Chambers, London, Hampton Court, and Whitton Place, near Hounslow (until d. 1796); by descent to George Chambers; Chambers family; Miss E. M. Chambers (until 1957; sold to Leger); [Leger, London, 1957; sold for £800 to Kleinberger]; [Kleinberger, New York, 1957–75; bequeathed by Harry G. Sperling, last surviving partner of firm, to MMA]

Exhibition History

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Rembrandt and His Pupils," January 9–February 23, 1969, no. 51 (lent by F. Kleinberger & Co., Inc., New York).

Toronto. Art Gallery of Ontario. "Rembrandt and His Pupils," March 14–April 27, 1969, no. 51 (lent by F. Kleinberger & Co., Inc., New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 10, 1995–January 7, 1996, no. 48 (as "Abraham Dismissing Hagar and Ishmael").

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.

References

Harry G. Sperling. Letter to D. Pont. November 18, 1957, writes that the picture "has never been published or exhibited" and "is fully signed and dated 1658".

D. Pont. Barent Fabritius, 1624–1673. Utrecht, 1958, pp. 47–48, 103–4, no. 4, fig. 17.

Werner Sumowski. "Review of Ref. Pont 1958." Kunstchronik 12 (October 1959), p. 288, suggests that the figure of Abraham is based on a drawing of the same subject by Rembrandt (Benesch no. 504).

Werner Sumowski. "G. van den Eeckhout–I. de Joudreville." Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. 2, Landau/Pfalz, 1983–[94?], pp. 912, 915, 918, 920, no. 557, ill. p. 937 (color).

Peter C. Sutton. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1986, p. 183.

Francis Broun. "Sir Joshua Reynolds' Collection of Paintings." PhD diss., Princeton University, 1987, vol. 1, pp. 45, 118 n. 8; vol. 2, pp. 14–15, 31, no. A1 under Fabritius, discusses it along with two other paintings (by Jan van Goyen and Adriaen van Ostade) that descended in the Chambers family, stating that he does not believe that the pictures ever actually belonged to Reynolds, who merely acted as agent in acquiring them for a friend.

Walter Liedtke in "Paintings, Drawings, and Prints: Art-Historical Perspectives." Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Aspects of Connoisseurship. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, [1995], pp. 19, 145–46, 149, no. 48, ill., records the correct version of the signature and date; notes that although there is no evidence that Barent Fabritius ever studied with Rembrandt, this is one of the most common subjects of the Rembrandt school.

Irene Haberland in The Dictionary of Art. 10, New York, 1996, p. 733.

Walter Liedtke. Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 198–200, no. 45, colorpl. 45.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), p. 61.

Curatorial Department

European Paintings: All