Solomon Sacrifices to Strange Gods

Artist Philips de Koninck (Dutch, 1619 - 1688)

Date17th century

MediumPen and brown ink on paper

DimensionsOverall: 7 7/8 × 11 15/16 inches (20 × 30.32 cm)

Credit LineGift of Milton McGreevy

Object numberF59-64/5

On View

Not on view

Collections

European Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Drawings Collection of Milton McGreevy, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 7–April 4, 1965, no. 37, as Salomon Sacrifices to Strange Gods.

Old Master Drawings Selected from the Collection of Milton McGreevy: Gifts and Bequest to Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 6–June 5, 1983, no. 17; Mulvane Art Center, Topeka, KS; Westark Community College, Ft. Smith, AR; Fort Hays [KS] State University; Manhattan [KS] Arts Council; Charles B. Goddard Center, Ardmore, OK; and South Arkansas Art Center, El Dorado, AR, 1984–1987, as Solomon Sacrifices to Strange Gods.

Religious Subjects: A Variety of Approaches, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 20–September 24, 2006, June 8–October 16, 2011, no cat., as Solomon Sacrifices to Strange Gods.

Saints and Sinners, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 15–December 13, 2020, no cat.

Gallery Label

Philips de Koninck was best known for his panoramic views of the flat Dutch landscape, but he executed many drawings of figure subjects in the style of his master, Rembrandt, of which this is a typical example. Here, the artist's pen line is more delicate than that of Rembrandt's. The taste for obscure Old Testament subjects like this one was common among Dutch artists of the time. Many collectors enjoyed opportunities to display their scholarly command of the Bible when others were uncertain of the subject matter.

Provenance

With F. A. C. Prestel, Frankfurt am Main, Germany [1];

Purchased from Prestel by the dealer Joseph Fach, Frankfurt am Main, as by Philipp Koning, Salomon sacrificing foreign idols, by September 20, 1959 [2];

Purchased from Fach by Milton McGreevy (1903–1980), Shawnee Mission, KS, September 20–November 10, 1959;

His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1959.

NOTES:

[1] According to the British Museum, “Ferdinand August Christian Prestel (1826–1890) was a painter and etcher, and the son of CEG Prestel. He founded the firm of art dealers in Frankfurt that continued to trade under his name after his death. The firm apparently closed after 1908. A. Voigtländer-Tetzner took over the firm in 1910. He used the name FAC Prestel for his art dealing as well as for publishing.”

[2] See Joseph Fach invoice, September 20, 1959, NAMA Archives, MS007 Milton McGreevy records.

Published References

“Drawings Collection of Milton McGreevy,” Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 4, no. 6 (March 7-April 4, 1965): 27, as Salomon Sacrifices to Strange Gods.

Ross E. Taggart, Old Master Drawings Selected from the Collection of Milton McGreevy: Gifts and Bequest to Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1982), unpaginated, (repro.), as Solomon Sacrifices to Strange Gods.

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