pen and brown ink, grey and brown wash, pen and black ink framing lines
16.9 x 13.2 cm

Provenance:
Private collection, France.

Initially trained by his father, the goldsmith Jan Pietersz. van den Eeckhout (1584-1652), Gerbrand
van den Eeckhout later became a pupil of Rembrandt and, according to Houbraken, was even ‘een
groot vrind’ (a great friend) of the master.1 While clearly indebted to Rembrandt’s style, Van den
Eeckhout stood out as one of Rembrandt’s most versatile pupils. His large drawn œuvre consists
of a wide range of subjects including genre scenes, biblical scenes, portraits, landscapes, figure
studies, and studies for goldsmith work. Across these varied subjects, the artist employed an equally
wide range of media; his tender figure drawings are often drawn with the brush, while some of his
portraits are executed in black chalk on vellum and many of his compositional studies are drawn in
pen and ink and wash.

The present drawing falls in the latter category; executed with swift, but confident penwork and
delicate wash, this sheet is a particularly refined compositional study. Both the style and technique
are entirely characteristic for the artist, as is the neat rendering of the figures in the foreground.
The abbreviated faces - with the occasional stroke and dots to indicate the eyes and eyebrows - of
the figures at right, as well as the sketch-like figures in the background are all typical of the artist’s
draughtsmanship. [2]

The sheet shows the moment that Joseph and Mary (kneeling at left) present their newborn son
to the Lord in the temple, where they are met by Simeon (who is shown, while holding the child, at
right). The story of the presentation in the temple is told in the Gospel of Saint Luke (2:22-39) and
describes how 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 in peace, according to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation” (Luke 2:29–30). After giving praise to God, Simeon blessed
Mary and revealed to her the first dark prophecy about the fate of her son.
Van den Eeckhout depicted the pivotal moment in the temple in several paintings, three of which are
still known today. One of these shows the scene in close up, while another, now in the Gemäldegalerie
Alte Meister, Dresden, shows the presentation from a distance and set in a temple setting. [3]

A third painting, which was only fairly recently discovered and which is now in the Leiden Collection,
shows a composition similar to that in the Dresden picture, but now with a prominent altar in the
background. [4] While the background in the present sheet is closest to the painting in Dresden
– note the arch in the background at left, the approaching veiled lady at left and the figures in
the background at right – the foreground is especially close to that in the painting in the Leiden
Collection. Simeon, and the elderly men standing around him, are particularly closely comparable,
but the kneeling Joseph and Mary (even though their positions have been swapped) are very close
too. It is hard to pinpoint where in the process the present drawing was executed and whether it was
used as a direct study, or as a model for different parts in the various paintings, but it seems plausible
that the present drawing was used for both the Dresden and Leiden Collection pictures. According
to Volker Manuth, to whom we are grateful for his assistance in cataloguing the present drawing and
for confirming the attribution, the sheet should be dated circa 1665-1668.


[1] A. Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen, Amsterdam, 1718, vol. 1, p. 137.
[2] See for comparable drawings W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, New York, 1980, vol. 3, nos. 642, 650 and 661, ill.
[3] W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, II, G. van den Eeckhout- I. de Joudreville, Landau/Pfalz, 1983, nos. 450 and 456, ill.
[4] See https://www.theleidencollection.com/artwork/simeon-in-the-temple/ [accessed 22 December 2025].