Simeon in the Temple

1672

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout(Amsterdam 1621 – 1674 Amsterdam)oil on canvas
84.5 x 105.1 cm
signed and dated in dark paint, centered alonglower edge: “G. V. Eeckhout fe. A. / 1672. 9o”
GE-100Currently on view at: Long Museum, Shanghai

How To Cite
Manuth, Volker. "Simeon in the Temple." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock
Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
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© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Simeon in the Temple
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The Gospel of Luke (2:22–39) tells the story of Mary and Joseph who,

Comparative Figuresaccording to Jewish law, brought their first-born son to Jerusalem “topresent him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22). In the temple they met Simeon, adevout old man to whom the Holy Ghost had disclosed “that he should notsee death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). Simeon
recognized the infant as the Savior, took him in his arms, and thanked God
with the following words: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart inpeace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation”(Luke 2:29–30). After giving praise to God, Simeon blessed Mary andrevealed to her the first dark prophecy about the fate of her son.

Fig 1. Gerbrand van den
Eeckhout, The Presentation ofChrist in the Temple, ca. 1665, oilon canvas, Gemäldegalerie,Dresden

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout’s composition shows the bearded Simeon
kneeling in the temple next to a chair on a raised wooden platform with theinfant Jesus in his arms. Gazing heavenward, he utters his song of praise(“Nunc dimittis”). Behind him stand three men in oriental attire, one ofthem in the company of a boy dressed in red, who holds a staff in his righthand. At the far right, a group of five scribes are gathered around a tablecovered with a number of open books. The two scribes on the left turntoward Simeon, while the other three discuss the event among
themselves. Kneeling at the edge of the raised wooden platform acrossfrom Simeon are Mary and Joseph, with Joseph holding two sacrificial
doves in his left hand. Behind them approaches the prophetess Anna, herFig 2. Rembrandt van Rijn, The
Presentation in the Temple, ca.
1639, etching and drypoint,
National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., Rosenwald
Collection, 1943.3.7103 (Bartsch49)

hands folded in prayer. The Bible relates that she “was a widow of about
fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but servedGod with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that
instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord” (Luke 2:37–38).
Van den Eeckhout portrayed this theme a number of times in the 1660sand early 1670s. In addition to this work, other examples of his
representations of the Presentation in the Temple are found in Dresdenand Budapest.[1] Yet another version was in the museum in Berlin until theSecond World War, but this work has since disappeared.[2] The presentpainting, dated 1672, is the latest of the artist’s known versions of thetheme.
The Leiden Collection painting is recorded in three Amsterdam auction
catalogues of the late eighteenth century: 1776, 1777, and 1797.[3] All
three praise the quality of the picture and commend it as one of thepainter’s principal works, noting that its chiaroscuro, draughtsmanship,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Simeon in the Temple
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palette, costumes, and emotional expression all surpass Van den
Eeckhout’s other work. The sale catalogues of 1776 and 1777, however,wrongly assert that Arnold Houbraken mentioned this painting in hisGroote Schouburgh (1718–21). Although Houbraken does discuss apainting by Van den Eeckhout “depicting Jesus in the arms of Simeon,” it
was a different work. The painting Houbraken described was in thepossession of Jakob Hinlopen, as is evident in the poem by Jan Vos thathe quotes in its entirety.[4] Vos’s poem, however, first appeared in the 1662
edition of his poetry, that is, ten years before Van den Eeckhout executed
the Leiden Collection painting.[5]A striking detail in Simeon in the Temple is the boy dressed in red holding
the hand of the man behind Simeon, but his identity is not known. No childof this age is mentioned in the biblical text nor is such a child featured inprior pictorial traditions. In the auction catalogue of 1776, the two figures
are incorrectly identified as Zacharias and his son John (the Baptist).[6]Zacharias was the high priest of the temple of Jerusalem (see Luke 1:5)
and, as a priest, he would not be wearing a turban. Moreover, his son John
was only six months older than Christ (see Luke 1:26) and therefore hecannot be this boy.
When painting the Dresden version of this subject (fig 1), which dates
from the mid-1660s, Van den Eeckhout looked carefully at Rembrandt vanRijn’s (1606–69) etching The Presentation in the Temple of ca. 1639 (fig2). Several motifs in the Leiden Collection painting also recall that etching,among them the disposition of the figures, with the main scene taking
place in the right fore- and middle ground. As in Rembrandt’s etching, aview opens up at the left into the depths of the temple. Other similarities
include the group formed by the kneeling Simeon and the Christ child, andthe prophetess Anna, approaching from the left.
This painting is one of the principal pieces of Van den Eeckhout’s lastworking years, particularly notable for the way he has dramatized thescene by allowing light to fall on Simeon and the Christ child. He gavefurther prominence to these figures through the white robe that Simeon
wears and the radiant white swaddling clothes of Christ. These two figures
almost seem to glow, a visual reference to Simeon’s characterization of
the Child as “a light to lighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). Moreover, incontrast to other pictures made in Van den Eeckhout’s later years, in© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Simeon in the Temple
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which he experimented—not always convincingly—with compositions
featuring a few nearly life-size figures,[7] the painting in the Leiden
Collection depicts a scene rich in figures, in which the painter’s narrative
qualities come to the fore. Worthy of comparison are The Denarius ofCaesar of 1673 in Lille and The Calling of Matthew of 1674 in Munich.[8] In
these small-figure works, Van den Eeckhout displays his talent as acompelling storyteller and subtle colorist, which made him one of the mostsuccessful and most versatile painters in Rembrandt’s immediate circle.
-Volker Manuth© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Simeon in the Temple
Page 5 of 7Endnotes
1. 67.5 x 84 cm, oil on canvas, Dresden, Gemäldegalerie, inv. 1638 (see Werner Sumowski,Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden , 6 vols. [Landau, 1983], 2: no. 456);
Budapest, Szépmüveszeti Muzéum, inv. 3828, panel, 59 x 48.5 cm, signed and dated 1671
(see Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden , 6 vols. [Landau,1983], 2: no. 476); see also Museum of Fine Arts Budapest,Old Masters’ Gallery: SummaryCatalogue, vol. 2, Early Netherlandish, Dutch and Flemish Paintings , ed. Ildiko Ember andZsuzsa Urbach (Budapest, 2000), 57; whereabouts unknown, panel, 36.3 x 31.2 cm, theremnants of a signature: Eeck…(?) (see Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der RembrandtSchüler in vier Bänden, 6 vols. [Landau, 1983], 2: no. 450).
2. Present whereabouts unknown, until the Second World War in Berlin, Kaiser Museum, inv.
820, canvas, 83 x 100 cm (see Werner Sumowski,Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vierBänden, 6 vols. [Landau, 1983], 2: no. 435).
3. See Provenance.
4. Arnold Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en
Schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21), 2:101. As usual, Jan Vos’s poem is very
general in tone and reveals little about the work’s iconography.
5. See Alle de gedichten van den Poëet Jan Vos (Amsterdam, 1662), 360–61.
6. Ph. van der Land, Amsterdam (de Winter, B. van Keyserswaart, J. Yver), 22 May 1776, lot
24: “In het midden van het stuk ziet men den Gryzen Simion, het Kindeken, op zyne hande
hebbende, zynen Lofgezang, tot het Opperste Wezen uitgalmen; in het byzyn van den
Hooge-Priester Zacharias, die Johannes by de hand heeft” (In the middle of the piece one
sees old Simeon holding the child in his hands, shouting his Song of Praise to the Supreme
Being; in the presence of the high priest Zacharias, who holds John by the hand).
7. See, for example, the two versions of Samson and Delilah: the 1667 version in the
Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart (see Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vierBänden, 6 vols. [Landau, 1983], 2: no. 465) and the 1668 version in the Kunsthalle inBremen (see Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden , 6 vols.
[Landau, 1983], 2: no. 466).
8. Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts, canvas, 90 x 106.4 cm, signed and dated 1673 (see WernerSumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden , 6 vols. [Landau, 1983], 2: no.
486) and Munich, Alte Pinakothek, canvas, 92 x 107 cm, signed and dated 1674 (seeWerner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden , 6 vols. [Landau,1983], 2: no. 487).

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Simeon in the Temple
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Provenance(Sale, Philips van der Land, Amsterdam [De Winter, B. van Keyserswaart, J. Yver], 22 May
1776, no. 24; sale, Nicolaas Nieuhoff, Amsterdam, 14 April 1777, no. 50; sale, Pieter
Cornelis Hasselaar, Amsterdam, 28 November 1797, no. 4).
John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute (1793–1848); (his sale, Christie’s, London, 7June 1822, no. 78).1[1]Private collection; by family descent until 2007 (sale, Sotheby’s London, 5 December 2007,no. 28).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

Provenance Notes

1. It is unclear precisely when the painting entered the Bute collection. According to the 2007
Sotheby’s sales catalogue, it was passed to John Crichton-Stuart by descent and thecatalogue lists two probable prior owners from the family: John Stuart, 3rd Earl Bute(1713–92), Luton Park, Bedfordshire; by descent to John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute(1744–1814), Luton Park. Volker Manuth’s research, however, revealed three eighteenthcentury auction listings for the painting (above), which conflict with this earlier provenance.
Nicole Cook, curatorial assistant at the Leiden Collection, confirmed Manuth’s findings andsurmises that GE-100 probably entered the Bute collection at some point after 1797.

Exhibition History
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].

Technical Summary© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Simeon in the Temple
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The support, a single piece of medium-weight, plain-weave fabric with tacking margins removed
and paper tape along the edges, has been lined. There is slight cusping along the left and rightvertical edges and a cluster of heavier-weight, horizontal threads cross the canvas width at theheight of the standing child dressed in red’s forehead and the upper edge of Simeon’s whitebeard.[1] There are numbers in white chalk along the stretcher but no wax collection seals,stencils, import stamps or labels along the lining or stretcher.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been smoothly appliedalong the architecture, drapery, candlesticks, and pitcher on the altar. A fine network of drying
cracks through the elements allows a light brown underlayer to show through. The figures andforeground have been painted opaquely in a paste consistency, with low rounded brushwork
through the fleshtones and highlights along the drapery and turbans.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. The
images and X-radiograph reveal an additional figure that was previously located to the left of thestanding child. The figure’s head and shoulders are visible in the infrared images, and thefigure’s drapery folds are visible in the X-radiograph. A pentimento of the figure’s foot, toepointing to the left, is located along the diagonally oriented cane held by the standing child. A
radio-opaque braided “halo” is visible above Simeon’s turban.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint along the center of the lower edge.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2008 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Located 37.5 cm up from the lower stretcher edge.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection