Leonaert Bramer

Leonaert Bramer was one of the most prolific draughtsmen of his time and occupies a unique position in Dutch 17th-century art. He is perhaps best known for producing drawings in illustrative sets and series, treating a wide variety of themes from the Bible, classical mythology, classical history and popular literature. See lots 48-52 for other examples of Bramer's approach to a variety of subjects.

The popular biblical narrative of Jacob and his son Joseph was frequently depicted by Dutch artists of the 17th-century, especially by Rembrandt and his circle. A sketch by Bramer shows the artist copying a version of the subject executed by Jan Lievens.¹ In his 1994 catalogue entry for the present drawing, Michiel Plomp comments, however, on the rarity of this precise subject, Jacob recognising his son's blood-stained garment, within Bramer's oeuvre. Apart from the present sheet, the aforementioned sketch, and one painting recorded in an 18th-century description, there are no other known depictions. 

It is intriguing that the present drawing is so large in scale, raising the question of whether it was made as a preparatory study for a specific commission. Plomp notes the existence (on the Paris art market in 1991) of another large drawing by Bramer, probably also dating to the 1650s, illustrating Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream, but remarks that it is unlikely that these two drawings were made as pendants, since one is on toned white paper and the other is on blue paper. He considers that their scale may simply suggest they were commissioned as finished drawings by someone who could not afford the cost of a painting.

^1. Reproduced exh. cat., op. cit., Delft 1994, fig. 28a