Abraham Bloemaert Gorinchem 1566 - 1651 Utrecht

William Petty Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne, later 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (1737-1805), Bowood Park, Wiltshire;
Possibly thence by inheritance to his son John Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 2nd Marquess of Lansdowne (1765-1809), Bowood Park;
Probably the 1st Marquess' deceased sale, London, Coxe, Burrell and Foster, February 25, 1806, lot 89 (Abraham dismissing Hagar, with Cattle, Figures and Buildings);
Sir William Neville Abdy Bt. (1844-1910), Newdigate, Surrey;
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, May 5, 1911, lot 53 (as Abraham Blomaert; no mention of signature), for 10 gns. to Parsons;
Dennis Vanderkar Gallery, London;
His sale, London, Christie's, November 29, 1968, lot 9, to Leger Galleries (As Abraham Bloemaert; where no mention of Bloemaert signature, but mention of initials DT);
Leger Galleries, London (as signed), by whom sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1969, no. 69.PA.16.

London, Leger Galleries, Exhibition of Old Master Paintings, April 16-May 31, 1969 (as Abraham Blomaert);
St. Petersburg, FL, Museum of Fine Arts, Abraham Blomaert, January 28-April 8, 2001 (as Blomaert and workshop).

B.B. Fredericksen, Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1972, pp. 77-78, no. 96 (as Abraham Bloemaert);
P.C. Sutton, Dutch Art in America, Grand Rapids/ Kampen 1986, p. 138 (as Abraham Blomaert);
M.G. Roethlisberger, Abraham Blomaert and his sons. Paintings and Prints, Doornspijk 1993, p. 341, cat. no. 547, reproduced fig. 733 (as Abraham Bloemaert);
D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1997, p. 11, reproduced (as Bloemaert and Workshop);
Abraham Bloemaert and His Time, exhibition catalogue, St. Petersburg, FL. 2001, pp. 10, 22-23, 53, cat. no. 17, reproduced p. 52 (as Bloemaert and Workshop).

In his 1972 catalogue (see Literature) Burton B. Fredericksen suggests the third digit of the date, while illegible, should be read as "2," thus proposing a date of execution of 1628. Marcel Roethlisberger, in his 1993 publication (see Literature) more satisfactorily proposes a date of 1638, comparing the work on stylistic grounds with Bloemaert's work of the same subject of 1635 (Private Collection; ibid., pp. 325-6, cat. no. 511, reproduced fig. 694), with his Prodigal Son of 1637 (Ranger's House, London; ibid., p. 340, no. 546, reproduced fig. 732), his Marriage of Peleus and Thetis of 1638 (The Hague, Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen 'Mauritshuis'; ibid., pp. 341-2, cat. no. 548, reproduced fig. 734) and Landscape with Tobias of 1640 (Lund, University Art Museum; ibid., p. 345, cat. no. 552, reproduced fig. 741) which contains an identical outside staircase of the house. The present work shares several motifs with the 1635 Hagar; the dog, for example, recurs in exactly the same form. With the present work, his second largest landscape, as compared with this latter, Bloemaert demonstrates a greater awareness of space and depth and has simplified and clarified the previously over-complicated composition.

For a short time this picture was considered to have been painted by Bloemaert with the assistance of his workshop.  However, based upon Marcel Roethlisberger 's written opinion, that he has "always considered [the Getty] work a superb and entirely autograph work by the artist," and that there is "not the slightest reason for an 'and workshop' addition,"¹ we have returned the attribution to Bloemaert in full. 

 

1  Written correspondence between Dr. Roethlisberger and Dr. Scott Schaefer, dated February 3, 2001.