Kárpáti Zoltán - Liptay Éva - Varga Ágota szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 101. (Budapest, 2004)

JÚLIA TÁTRAI: The Return of Barent Fabritius's Sacrifice of Manoah to Hungary

48. Charles Courtry, Angel (etching after Barent Fabritius) the sacrifice of the biblical Manoah. Rembrandt masterfully depicted this subject in his painting of 1641 in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie (fig. 46), and perhaps it is not so farfetched to think that Fabritius got his inspiration from here, although the two works are conceptually different."

20 When the panel painting of the sacrifice of Manoah cropped up in Budapest in 2003, it could clearly be identified as the painting from the former Gerhardt Collection, based on the black and white photo from the Berlin catalogue, the given measurements and earlier descriptions. This time the Museum of Fine Arts was successful in obtaining the painting, and the following year the Manoah panel took its place within the permanent exhibition.

21 The story of Samson's parents, Manoah and his wife, is found in the Book of Judges. The couple had been barren for some time when the Angel of the Lord appeared and prophesied that they would have a son whose mission would be to free the people of Israel from the Philistines. Overjoyed at the news, the couple, to show their respect for the Lord, sacrificed a goat. The following scene is depicted in the See note 2. Oil on oak, 59.6 x 71 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, inv. no. 2004.2. The museum purchased the painting in the framework of an exchange from Dr. Zsuzsanna Hegyi.