Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Amnon Attacking Tamar
(Renaissance Europe )
King David's son Amnon pretended to be sick, and, when his half-sister Tamar came to visit him, he treacherously raped her (2 Samuel). In the later 1500s once the athletic ideal of classical antiquity and contemporary Italian art had been absorbed in the Netherlands, painters would typically depict such threatening male figures with far more muscular builds.
Setting the scene in an early 16th-century bedroom with beautiful furnishings, including a wall clock (rare and expensive at this time) implied that the biblical stories remained current. The rich surface details, figures whose poses and gestures marked by graceful curves, and elaborate play of folds are typical of the prevailing style in Antwerp around 1515 to 1525 sometimes known as "Antwerp Mannerism," of which Jan van Dornicke, active in Antwerp around 1509 to 1525, is the leading practioner.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Laffan Sale; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 1993 | A Renaissance Puzzle: Heemskerck's Abduction of Helen. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 9/1/1986 | Treatment | coated; loss compensation; other |
| 9/3/1986 | Examination | examined for condition |
| 3/9/2011 | Examination | examined for condition |
Geographies
Belgium, Antwerp (Place of Origin)
Measurements
31 3/16 x 25 3/8 in. (79.2 x 64.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.779