- Museum number
- Gg,2.262
- Description
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A Mughal nobleman on horseback (Shah Jahan); after a Mughal miniature, a man, with slight beard, holding a two-headed lance seated on a horse which is rearing to right. c.1656-1661
Pen and brown ink with brown and grey wash with red chalk wash, touched with red and yellow chalk and white heightening and with some scraping-out, on Asian paper; the lance drawn with a ruler.
Verso: laid down on old mat.
No watermark.
- Production date
- 1656-1661 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 205 millimetres
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Width: 177 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Entry from Martin Royalton-Kisch, ‘Catalogue of drawings by Rembrandt and his school’, 2010, Rembrandt, cat. no.61.
Based on a Mughal miniature (see under cat. no.56; 1895,0915.1275, Benesch 1187). Rembrandt's prototype survives together with others that he copied in Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna, although his imitation is far from exact.[1] The lance seems to have been taken from another drawing in the same series.[2] The figure has been identified as Shāh Jahān,[3] also seen in cat. no.60 (1895,0915.1281, Benesch 1204) and in the only other equestrian subject in Rembrandt's series, now in the Louvre (Benesch 1197).
NOTES:
[1] Repr. Strzygowski, 1923, fig.3 (centre), Broos, 1980, fig.8 and Exh. London, 1992, p.151, fig.67a.
[2] Repr. Strzygowski, 1923, fig.22 (below) and Exh. London, 1992, p.151, fig.67b.
[3] By Rouffaer, 1906 (see Lit. below).
LITERATURE (always as Rembrandt):
Bürger, 1858, p.400 (c.1632, as for cat. no.57; inv. no.Gg,2.263, Benesch 1190); Blanc, II, 1861, p.454; Michel, 1893, p.581; Seidlitz, 1894, p.121 (1660s); Lippmann, I, no.116; Kleinmann, IV, no.8; Sarre, 1904, pp.154-5, repr. opp. p.156 (as cat. no.56; 1895,0915.1275, Benesch 1187; notes colour; compares Mughal miniature in Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde; authentic detail of the weapon; the woodenness of the horse seen also in the painted 'Equestrian Portrait', Bredius 255, [now] National Gallery, London); Bode and Valentiner, 1906, p.15, repr.; Hofstede de Groot, 1906, no.929; Rouffaer, 1906, p.371, n.1 (identifies horseman as probably Shāh Jahān); Saxl, 1908, p.234 (c.1649, as the 'Equestrian Portrait' - see under Sarre, 1904; also compares etching of the 'Triumph of Mordechai', Bartsch 40, Hind 172, which he dates to this period); Wurzbach, 1910, p.418 (Rembrandt?); London, 1915, no.79 (c.1656); Valentiner, II, 1934, no.653, repr; Benesch, 1935, p.56; Benesch, 1947, p.27 and no.230, repr. (c.1654-6); Hofman, 1956, repr. p.38; Benesch, V, 1957/73, no.1205, repr. fig.1428/1504 (c.1654-6; original miniature unidentified); Slive, 1965, I, no.118, repr. (c.1655); Gerson, 1968, p.108, repr. p.371, fig.b (possibly an ingredient in the inspiration for the 'Polish Rider', Bredius 279); Muller, 1968, pp.34-5, repr. fig.9 (c.1655; horseman's legs too far forward for a pesade); Bernhard, 1976, II, repr. p.538; Broos, 1977, p.121 (refers to Rouffaer, 1906); Schatborn, 1977, no.13, repr. (compares Louvre drawing, Benesch 1197); Broos, 1980, repr. p.213, fig.7 (as Rouffaer, 1906; identifies possible model at Schönbrunn); Exh. Paris, Louvre, Cabinet des dessins, 1988-9, under no.67 (c.1656; compares Louvre drawing, also of a horseman, Benesch 1197); Royalton-Kisch, 1991, p.18, n.1 (with other examples of coloured drawings); Montias, 2002, p.125, n.37 (relates speculativley to 'Chinees schilderijtge' mentioned in documents as transferred from Rembrandt's business associate, van den Broeck, to Ackersloot); Schatborn, 2006, p.80, under no.50 (compares Louvre drawing, Benesch 1197).
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For a comprehensive overview of Rembrandt's copies after Mughal portraits, see S. Schrader, 'Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India' Exh cat. J. Paul Getty Museum, 2018. Schrader identifies further Mughal prototypes for the present drawing: The Emperor Shah Jahan Riding, c. 1650, Oxford, Bodleian Library (Ms. Douce Or. a.1, fol. 25a). See Schrader 2018, nos.10 and 11. William Robinson revisits the question of authorship of the Mughal drawings; he argues that they accord with Rembrandt's style in the late 1650s-early 1660s, and he disagrees with MRK's suggestion that they might be by Aert de Gelder. See 'A book of Indian Drawings, 25 in number' in Schrader 2018, pp. 43-59; and 'Rembrandt's 'Indian Drawings' and his Later Work' Annual Thaw Lecture, Morgan Drawing Institute, 2018, figs. 7 and 8.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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London, 1899, no.A56 (use of colour resembles cat. nos.17 and 18 [Oo,10.122 and 1895,0806.74, Benesch 365 and 367]);
1938, no.79 (c.1656);
1956, p.16, no.5;
1992, BM, Drawings by Rembrandt and his Circle, no.67, repr. in colour (c.1656-61);
1997-8 Melbourne-Canberra, NG Victoria/Australia, Rembrandt, pp.324, 326 and no.93, repr. in colour;
2000, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2000, 'Glory of the Golden Age', no.53
2012 24 May - 30 Sep, London, BM, 'The horse: from Arabia to Royal Ascot'
2018 13 Mar-24 Jun, Los Angeles, JP Getty Museum, Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India
- Condition
- Generally good; parts of the surface are pitted (as in cat. nos.57 and 58; Gg,2.263 and 1910,0212.182; Benesch 1190 and 1199); some abrasions and scratches, a horizontal centre crease and spots of foxing (mostly upper right; similar foxing has affected the other drawing from the series formerly in Cracherode's collection, cat. no.57; Gg,2.263, Benesch 1190).
- Acquisition date
- 1799
- Acquisition notes
- Jonathan Richardson, sen. (L.2184); J. Barnard (L.1419; his sale, Greenwood, 7th day, 23 February, 1787, lot 51: 'A Chinese Officer on Horseback, an Imitation of a Chinese drawing by Rembrandt', bt. Thane, £4-8-0); Rev. C.M. Cracherode (L.606; acquired in 1787, according to Register), by whom bequeathed, 1799.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Gg,2.262
