Ferdinand Bol

Gaston, Ritter von Mallmann, his sale, Berlin, Lepke, 13/14 June 1918, lot 190, illus. pl. 12 (as Rembrandt School);
private collection, Berlin;
with C.G. Boerner, Düsseldorf, 1953 (Neue Lagerlist 7, cat. 438, as Rembrandt student, circa 1650);
private collection, Germany;
sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 14 November 1988, lot 188 (as Bol);
sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 5 November 2002, lot 56 (purchased by the present owner)

W.R. Valentiner, Rembrandt. Des Meisters Handzeichnungen, Stuttgart etc., 1925, p. 470, under no. 128 (as Rembrandt School);
M.D. Henkel, Catalogus van de Nederlandsche Teekeningen in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, vol. I, Teekeningen van Rembrandt en zijn school, 's Gravenhage 1942, p. 65, under no. 2 (as Rembrandt School);
W. Sumowski, 'Notizien zu Zeichnungen von F. Bol,' in Festschrift Dr. h.c. Eduard Trautschold, Hamburg 1965, p. 122, no. 9 (as Bol);
A. Blankert, Kunst als regeringszaak in Amsterdam in de 17de eeuw, Rondom schilderijen van Ferdinand Bol, Lochem 1975, p. 146, under no. A49;
W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, vol. I, New York 1979, p. 204, no. 90, illus., p. 390, under no.183^X, and p. 578, under no. 277^X;
A. Blankert, Ferdinand Bol, Doornspijk 1982, p. 94, under no. 10;
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. I, Landau/Pfalz 1983, p. 298, under no. 107

Window mounted. The pen and ink remain fresh and strong. The paper has worn thin at the upper right and left corners and both corners appear to have been repaired to strengthen the worn areas (this is visible on the verso). The upper left corner has a light grey stain on the recto. There are also two very tiny holes at the upper corners, only visible when the sheet is lifted. Overall the condition is very good with the medium and sheet remaining fresh. Sold in a plain black frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sumowski, who was the first to recognise Bol's authorship of this sheet, also identified it as having provided the basis for the artist's large painting of the same subject, one of five painted for a house in Utrecht, and now in the Peace Palace, The Hague.¹  In the painting, the composition was, however, transformed into a vertical format by the addition of a cloud with putti; the figure of God's messenger is also different, but Joshua appears in the same stance, only with more elaborate armor and a large plume on the top of his helmet. On stylistic grounds the drawing can be dated to circa 1640, shortly after the end of the artist's four or five-year stay in Rembrandt's studio, and some fifteen years earlier than the painting, so it seems Bol kept this early drawing, returning to and adapting it when he came to make his later painting of the subject. Another version of the drawing, closer in composition to the painting and therefore probably later in date than the present sheet, is known from an old copy, formerly in the J. Theodor Cremer Collection.²

In figure types and handling, this drawing is very similar to the fine David Showing Saul the Tip of the Coat,  which Sumowski dates to the late 1630s.³

1.  Blankert, loc.cit., 1982
2.  Sumowski, op. cit., 1979, no. 277^X.
3.  Sumowski 183^X; sold New York, Sotheby's, 23 January 2001, lot 263