Young Man with a Sword
ArtistCircle of
Rembrandt van Rijn
Dutch, 1606–1669
Datecirca 1633–1645
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 46 1/2 × 38 in. (118.1 × 96.5 cm)
frame: 58 1/8 × 51 7/8 × 5 1/4 in. (147.7 × 131.8 × 13.3 cm)
frame: 58 1/8 × 51 7/8 × 5 1/4 in. (147.7 × 131.8 × 13.3 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Object numberGL.60.17.68
On View
Not on view[1] Annotated version of the catalogue in the INHA library notes that the painting sold but does not indicate a buyer. The painting is listed as: “Un Tableau de l'École de Rembrandt, représentant un Guerrier, vu á mi-corps, tenant d'une main son épée, & l'autre appuyée sur le côté. Hauteur 42 pouces, largeur 35 pouces. T[oile].” The dimensions (one pouce equals approximately 2.707 cm) and the description match the NCMA painting very closely.
[2] Listed as the lender of the painting to an exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1912, no. 81.
[3] William Guy Hicks Beach was a stockbroker who went bankrupt in 1931. The 1932 Christie’s catalogue specifies that the painting (together with a 16th-century Florentine cassone) was sold by the order of Beach’s trustee, presumably as part of his bankruptcy proceedings.
[4] Annotated version of the sale catalogue in NCMA library notes this buyer. A second annotated copy of the sale catalogue, in the curatorial file, also lists Wells as the buyer but with a slightly different sale price.
[5] Published as a new discovery of the Katz Gallery in The Art News, November 25, 1933, p. 13. Nathan Katz (1893–1949), a prominent Jewish dealer in Holland, sold many paintings to Germans before obtaining an exit visa to Switzerland, reportedly with the help of Posse. He spent the war years in Basel, during which time (and afterwards) he was represented in America by Schaeffer Galleries.
[6] Elisabeth was the wife of the Dutch Chemist Dr. Jaques Coenraad Hartogs (1879–1932) and is often referred to in the literature as “Mrs. Dr. J. C. Hartogs” or “Mevr. de Wed. Dr. J. C. Hartogs” [Madam the Widow of Dr. J. C. Hartogs]. A letter from J. G. van Gelder to Dr. Valentiner, Director of the NCMA, January 1957 [NCMA files, transcribed from the Schaeffer records at the Getty Research Institute (GRI)] notes: “As you know the picture [Rembrandt, Young Man with a Sword] was bought by Katz of (sic, i.e. “for”) the Mrs. Hartogh Collection in Arnhem, long before the war.” According to the Getty Provenance Index, “Public Collections Database”: “Katz verbally 1945 says ‘Formerly in Jewish Coll., Arnhem and put into auction by Germans’.”
[7] The sale also includes as lot 19, Rembrandt, De Berisping van David door Nathan, which Schaeffer records (no stock number) indicate was sold to Katz September 15, 1937 and was included by him in his 1938 exhibition. Notes in the photo file for the NCMA painting in the Schaeffer Records (Box 6 Paintings Inventory L-Z, and Box 7, Sales Records, GRI) have the note Katz 4/55 and cite a telephone conversation September 3, 1941, in which Miss Wittler of M. Knoedler and Company said that the picture was recently sold in The Hague. In January 1945 Knoedler stated it had never been in their possession and they did not know where it was.
[8] According to the 1945–1946 Reports from the Allied Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU), Tietje was a German industrialist and collector who was associated with Miedle, Paech, and Heinrich Hoffmann. He was also a friend of Hermann Göring’s. He was believed to have been in Dutch custody at the end of the war. The Archives of the SNK are in the Nationaal Archief, The Hague: 2.08.42. Tietje is catalogued under SNK 1052, indicating that he was a collector.
[9] Label on reverse.
[10] In a letter to Benjamin Katz (b. 1891; brother of Nathan Katz), dated April 13, 1955, Hanns Schaeffer questioned him about the provenance of the painting: “It bears a label of the ‘Stichting Nederlandsche Kunstbezit.’ I conclude from this, and the photograph in the Frick Collection confirms it, that it was taken by the Germans during the war and possibly sold in an auction. What do you know about this? If so, it could make an interesting story, which would help the sale.” There is no response from Katz in the file. See note 8 on SNK records. Hartogs is catalogued under SNK 148, indicating she was a victim of confiscation, forced sale, or theft.
[11] Discussion between Schaeffer, Katz, and Mrs. Hartogs regarding the painting began in 1955 (Schaeffer Gallery Records, GRI, Box 87, correspondence 1955, F-M). In a letter November 25, 1955, to Schaeffer from Mevr, Dr. J. C. Hartogs, Sonsbeekweg 42, Arnhem, re. the sale of the Rembrandt; she says she has just been to see Katz, Dieren. September 1956 Valentiner requested the loan of the painting from Schaeffer. Schaeffer also sold a Rembrandt Landscape for Mrs. Hartogs in 1955 (sold and return file), which had a Katz inventory number: K134.
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Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, called Fra Galgario
circa 1720–1730
Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, called Fra Galgario
circa 1720–1730
