Willem Bartsius Enkhuizen circa 1612 - after 1657

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Description

Willem Bartsius
Abraham pleading with Sarah on behalf of Hagar
signed and dated lower right: .W. BARTSIVS. fe^t./ .i63i.
oil on canvas

Provenance

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 1927, lot 128 (as The Sacrifice of Abraham with Sarah, on the promise of Isaac), to Bollings(?) for 26.5 Guineas;
With Central Picture Galleries, New York;
There purchased by Dr. William P. Garred, Onawa, Iowa in 1971,
By whom donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1972 (inv. no. 71.PA.70).

Exhibited

Northridge, California State University, Baroque Masters from the J. Paul Getty Museum, 26 February -20 March 1973, p. 1, cat. no. 1 (as Expulsion of Hagar(?).

Literature

B.B. Fredericksen, 'Recent Gifts of Paintings', in The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, vol. 3, 1976, pp. 119 and 121, reproduced p. 118, fig. 15 (as possibly Blind Tobit and Anna);
P.C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America, Washington 1986, p. 138;
D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 1997, p. 6, reproduced.

Catalogue Note

This is one of Bartsius' earliest works, painted in 1631 when he was only nineteen or twenty years old, and was not yet a member of the Guild in Alkmaar, which he joined in 1634.

The subject of this painting has been much debated and is still not fully resolved. It was long considered to be The Expulsion of Hagar, while Blind Tobit and Anna has been more recently suggested; neither, however, are satisfactory. The present subject Abraham Pleading with Sarah on Behalf of Hagar is only inferred in the Bible (Gen. 21: v. 9-11): an aged Abraham is depicted pleading with Sarah who has told him to "cast out this bondwoman (Hagar) and her son".