Art Institute of Chicago
Noah's Ark
Rembrandt van RijnLinkedCulture matchlcp-7924f2657395
- Date
- c. 1660
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink and brush and brown ink wash on cream laid paper
- Culture
- Holland
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 90522
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
Among his most expressive uses of the reed pen, this drawing is a fully realized depiction of Noah’s family boarding the ark prior to the great flood described in the Old Testament’s Book of Genesis. The vessel occupies the entire width of the sheet, and Rembrandt emphasized the act of departure by placing figures in the lower left corner who gesture inward, as if indicating where they will soon go. Rembrandt drew a borderline—albeit somewhat haphazardly—around the perimeter of his composition, indicating his satisfaction with his interpretation of the well-known biblical subject. This type of multifigure scene with a literary source provided the standard so many of his pupils aimed to match.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Provenance
- Mathieu-Guillaume-Thérèse de Villenave (1762–1846), Paris [stamp (Lugt 2598), recto, lower left, in blue]; sold, Alliance des Arts, Dec. 6, 1842 [stamp (Lugt 61), recto, lower left, in blue]. Possibly F. van den Zande; sold, Hôtel des Commissaires Priseurs, Paris, Apr. 30, 1855, lot 3042 [Dutuit 1885 and Cambridge, Mass. 1960]. M. Denesle. Sold, Paris, Mar. 30, 1860. Guillaume de Gontaut (1859–1939), Marquis de Biron; sold, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June, 9–11 1914, lot 50. Paul Mathey (1844–1929), Paris [Benesch 1957]. Alfred Strölin (1871–1954) or his son Alfred Strölin (1912–1974), Paris and Lausanne, by 1925 [Valentiner 1925]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1953.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033973
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