Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

Death of Jezebel

Maker

(artist)
1498-1574

Title

Death of Jezebel

Date of Production

1561

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink on laid paper, with dotted brown ink framing lines, incised for transfer, the verso prepared with black chalk

Dimensions

Height: 20.2 cm
Width: 25.4 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3895

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Notes

This drawing depicts the death of Jezebel, wife of King Ahab of Israel, a story which appears in the Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. Jezebel convinced her husband to abandon his religion before exiling the prophet Elijah. After King Ahab’s death in battle, the military commander Jehu, seen here at the head of the mounted army, ordered Jezebel to be thrown from her window and eaten by dogs in punishment for her religious crimes. Heemskerk produced this drawing as the final design in a series of six prints. The artist was a pioneer in the production of original designs for prints in the Netherlands, with over 700 engravings deriving from his compositions. The drawings for this series were engraved by Philips Galle, with whom Heemskerk often collaborated in the 1560s, and were published by Hieronymus Cock. The antique style of the soldiers’ armour, as well as the classical architecture in the scene, reveals the influence of the artist’s visit to Rome in the 1530s.

Provenance

anonymous sale, Sotheby's (London), 26 February 1947, lot 30 (with D.1952.RW.3897 and 2 others); purchased there by Colnaghi (London) on behalf of Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952) (£50); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 16/10/1991-19/01/1992

Literature

Master Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1991
cat. no. 43
pp. 94, 182
ill. on p. 95

Stechow, Wolfgang, 'Heemskerck, The Old Testament and Goethe' in 'Art Journal', 1964 - pp. 37-39; II
p. 37, n. 6
pl. 30

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: crowned shield containing letter "B", topped by a small four-leaf clover (see drawing in file; variant of Briquet 8072 – Utrecht 1578).

Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, signed and dated by the artist: "Martinus van / Heemskerck, Inventor / 1561. //".

Collector's mark: none.

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection