BIBLICAL SCENE - THE TRIUMPH OF MORDECAI, c. 1640-1641

Reed-pen, quill-pen, dark brown bistre, white body-colour, a few touches with graphite; paper stuck down onto passe-partout cardboard; 188 x 263 mm.
Prov.: From the Lubomirski collection.
Old inv. no. 8705.

Entered the collection as a work by Rembrandt. Included by O. Benesch in his catalogue of Rembrandt's drawings and with that attribution presented at exhibitions in Warsaw (1956), Braunschweig (1981) and Kansas City (1993). Benesch regarded the drawing as one of several preparatory sketches, differing in details, for an etching (B. 40), executed around 1440-41. The authenticity of the drawing was questioned by L. Mnz in 1952 and by W. Sumowski, who considered it a work by a pupil of Rembrandt. He drew attention to the difference in the handling of the figures, drawn in thick vigorous lines on the rims of the composition and indecisively in the central figure of Mordecai, which may indicate a copyist. J. Rosenberg, recognising Rembrandt's authorship, explained the differences by the use of two kinds of pens by the artist, while M. Radojewski in the catalogue of the Kansas City exhibition, explained the "interrupted" lines of the central part by the rough surface of the paper. Rembrandt's authorship was not confirmed by P. Schatborn, who based his judgement on a photograph.