Attributed to Govaert Flinck Kleve 1615 - 1660 Amsterdam

Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, January 9 1981, lot 85 (as attributed to Jan Erasmus Quellinus).

Although it has been attributed to a number of different artists, including Samuel van Hoogstraten (see literature below) and Johannes van Spilberg,¹ this Sacrifice of Manoah was considered by Dr. J. W. von Moltke, the author of the artist’s monograph, to be a late painting by Govaert Flinck.  In fact, the figure of the angel relates in type and physiognomy to that in Allegory of the Mourning of the Stadholder Frederik Hendrik with a portrait of his widow, Amalia van Solms of 1654, now in The Maurithuis, The Hague (see fig. 1).  Further connecting the two pictures, it has also been suggested that the figure of Manoah’s wife in the present canvas bears resemblance to the portrait of Amalia van Solms in the Mauritshuis composition (again, see fig. 1).  

Indeed, the handling of the brushwork, more smoothly applied and less “Rembrandtesque,” suggests a dating of the 1650’s, comparable to other pictures by Flinck of this moment, including his Madonna and Child (sold, New York, Sotheby’s, June 4, 1987, lot 38).

1 In a private correspondence from Albert Blankert to Otto Naumann, October 28, 1999.