1981.97: The Return of the Prodigal Son

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1981.97

People

Justus de Gelder, Dutch (Dordrecht 1650 - after 1707 Vianen (or Amsterdam?))
Previously attributed to Nicolaes Maes, Dutch (Dordrecht 1634 - 1693 Amsterdam)

Title

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

17th century

Culture

Dutch

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/295082

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Brown ink and brown wash with (later?) gray wash on off-white antique laid paper

Dimensions

19.7 x 19.1 cm (7 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.)
mount: 24.3 x 23.5 cm (9 9/16 x 9 1/4 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: lower right, brown ink: Rembrant:
• blind stamp: lower right: L. 1391 (Heinrich Wilhelm Campe)
• collector's mark: verso of mount, lower left, black ink, stamp: L. 2811b (C. R. Rudolf)
• inscription: verso of mount, lower right, red chalk: a. 1434
• inscription: verso of mount, lower right, graphite: Original
• inscription: verso of mount, lower right, graphite: Rembran [cut off]
• inscription: verso of mount, lower right, graphite: A5894
• inscription: verso of mount, lower right, grpahite: 2825
• inscription: mount, upper left, graphite: 241.
• inscription: mount, lower right, graphite: 63
• watermark: none visible

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Heinrich Wilhelm Campe, Leipzig (L. 1391, with his mark). [C. G. Boerner (Leipzig), 9 May 1930, lot 244 (as Rembrandt school)], sold; to [P. & D. Colnaghi, London], sold; to Carl Robert Rudolf, London (L. 2811b, with his mark), 1934. Private collector, gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1981.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Anonymous Gift in appreciation of Seymour Slive's service as Director of the Fogg Art Museum, 1974-1982

Accession Year

1981

Object Number

1981.97

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Publication History

• Werner Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, ed. Walter Strauss, Abaris Books (New York, NY, 1979), cat. no. 1945x
• William W. Robinson, "Nicolaes Maes as a Draughtsman", Master Drawings (Summer 1989), vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 146-162, p. 155, fig. 28
• Peter C. Sutton and William W. Robinson, Drawings by Rembrandt, his Students and Circle from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, exh. cat., Bruce Museum and Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2011), Addendum no. A12, p. 173, repr.

Subjects and Contexts

• Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Verification Level