Currently not on view
Isaac blessing Jacob,
ca. 1653–55
Maes is best known for his domestic interiors and portraits, which he painted after leaving Rembrandt’s studio in the early 1650s. Like all of Rembrandt’s students, Maes was encouraged to develop exploratory compositional ideas for biblical scenes. In this swiftly executed and vibrantly colored study, Maes’s emulation of Rembrandt’s dramatic staging of Old Testament stories is captured in his reductive treatment of the episode from Genesis in which Jacob, encouraged by his mother Rebecca (shown crouching in the left corner), impersonates his older brother Esau in order to receive the blessing of their father Isaac, who was blind, thus usurping Esau’s privileges as firstborn.
Information
ca. 1653–55
Anonymous sale; Veiling Bom, Amsterdam, 23 November 1926, [lot ?], where purchased by I.Q. van Regteren Altena (1899-1980) for 18 guilders (Inventory book: '236. t. N. Maes zegening Isaäc'); the former's estate; [Christie's, London, Auction 10252, "The I.Q. van Regteren Altena Collection. Part I," 10, July, 2014, lot 45]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2014.
- Catalogus der Nicolaes Maes tentoonstelling, 1634-1934: 1934, 20 Januari - 11 Februari, (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Dordrechts Museum, 1934). , no. 34
- Rembrandt als leermeester: 1. Juni - 1. Sept. 1956, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden, (Leiden: Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, 1956). , no. 168
- Werner Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt school, (New York: Abaris Books, 1979-1992)., Vol. VIII: no. 1767
- William Robinson, "'The sacrifice of Isaac', an unpublished painting by Nicolaes Maes", Burlington magazine 126, no. 978 (Sep., 1984): p. 538+540-544., p. 541, fig. 4 (verso)
- Jeroen Giltaij, The drawings by Rembrandt and his school in the Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, (Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, 1988)., p. 223, under no. 113
- William W. Robinson, "Nicolaes Maes as draughtsman", Master drawings 27, no. 2 (Summer, 1989): p. 146-162. , pp. 147, 150, and 161, note 10; p. 147 fig. 2 (verso)
- León Krempel, Studien zu den datierten Gemälden des Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693), (Petersburg: Imhof, 1999)., p. 362, under no. D43
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2014", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 74 (2015): p. 55-77., p. 73
