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

much more powerful witness to the influence of Rembrandt than do Barent's works from after 1660, which often show archaizing, almost Gothically extended figures.

45 Fabritius was probably not a pupil of Rembrandt,

46 but during his career he travelled many times to Amsterdam for longer and shorter stays (between 1643 and 1647, in 1652 and from 1669 until his death). In addition, documents show that his brother Carel, who died young, worked in Rembrandt's workshop, and his influence is clearly apparent in Barent's works.

47 All this provides adequate explanation for the Rembrandt-like qualities of his early and - in Sumowski's opinion - best works, even in the absence of a direct pupil-master relationship. Because we have no knowledge of any pictures painted by Barent together with another master, we can assume that insofar as the angel was a part of the Manoah panel, then certainly Fabritius painted this too. That the two parts once created a whole is supported not only by the corresponding sizes of the figures, but also by the similar facial type of Manoah's wife and the angel as well as the vigorous, impasto brushstrokes observable in the clothing of all three figures. If we accept the dating of the picture to the period of 1650-55, as opposed to Sumowski's suggestion of circa 1669, then this fits with the dates of the Dresden picture and its preliminary studies 48 In summary, it appears certain that the panel from the former Gerhardt Collection and the angel originally belonged together, and formed the complete painting of Sacrifice of Manoah by Barent Fabritius, which was made in the first half of the 1650s and reflect the influence of works of identical subject matter from the Rembrandt school. We are delighted that the painting, after lying hidden for one hundred years, has resurfaced in Hungary, and that the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest has finally been able to obtain it, as was the one-time wish of Gábor Térey. JÚLIA TÁTRAI Translated by Lara Michèle Strong With similar considerations, Sumowski dated the London picture to the mid-1650s, see W. Sumowski, Zum Werk von Barend und Carel Fabritius, Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden Württenberg 1 (1964), 188. Daniel Pont did not take a strong position on whether Barent was Rembrandt's pupil. About the master-pupil relationship, see Sumowski 1957-58 (n. 28), 287-88, id., 1983 (n. 19), vol. 2, 910; G. Seelig, "Barent Fabritius," in Saur Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon 2003 (n. 34), vol. 36, 118-19. For biographical information on Fabritius, see Pont 1958 (n. 4), 1-9. The painter who studied in Rembrandt's workshop at the same time as Van Hoogstraeten, and was referred to by him as 'Onzen Fabritius, mijn meedeleerling', was certainly Carel and not Barent. See Samuel van Hoogstraeten, Inleyding tot de Hooge Schoole der Schilderkonst, Rotterdam 1678, cited by Pont 1958 (n. 4), 7, n. 1. Sumowski 1983 (n. 19), 3095, no. 2066.