Gerbrand van den Eeckhout
The Infant Samuel brought by Hannah to Eli, Early 1660s, Oil on canvas, 110 x 135 cm, The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford; WA1945.7, HIP / Art Resource, NY
Idealizing the Family
Commentary by Sara Kipfer
In Dutch art, family portraits with an emphasis on familial affection as well as so-called portraits historiés (historicized portraits) became increasingly popular during the seventeenth century. These two popular forms could be combined.
The episode of Samuel presented to Eli at Shiloh allowed a focus on familial relationships, as Hannah and Elkanah take leave of their son. At least one painting of the scene—made by Lambert Doomer (1624–1700) and now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts Orléans (Inv. No. 69.6.1)—is known to be an historicized family portrait. The painting was commissioned by François Wijnants, portrayed as Elkanah, and Alida Essings, portrayed as Hannah, after the death of four children and out of gratitude for the birth of their youngest son, François, depicted in the painting as little Samuel (Pastoor 1994: 128–29).
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621–74) took up the subject of Elkanah and Hannah bringing Samuel to Eli at least three times. Although definitive evidence is lacking, this version—now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford—is considered by some to be an historicized family portrait like Doomer’s, showing an actual Dutch family.
The high priest Eli sits on a richly decorated wooden armchair, positioned sideways-on to the viewer, in front of an altar on which a golden vessel and an open Bible stand. He is dressed in magnificently ornamented attire, wearing a priestly headdress. No sacrificial animal can clearly be detected; maybe it is being brought by the far-off people in the dark background at left.
In front of Hannah and Samuel, a vessel with flour and a beautifully decorated jar of wine (1 Samuel 1:24) can be discerned. Hannah is kneeling on the floor and holding Samuel’s hand, while Elkanah stands behind them. Samuel, in a long and luminously white robe, is the only one turning towards the viewer.
Father, mother, and son form a very close group, embodying the period’s regnant view of the central importance of family.
The child holds a round, golden object in his left hand. This may prompt reflection on the painting itself as a valuable commodity. Whether or not they were historicized portraits, depictions of family—like paintings of the Presentation of Samuel in the Temple commissioned on the occasion like the birth of a child—also functioned to raise and confirm a family’s social status (Nakamura 2014: 47) and display its wealth.
References
Nakamura, Toshiharu. 2014. ‘An Introduction to Interpreting Images of Family, Mother and Child, and the Home’, in Images of Familial intimacy in Eastern and Western Art, ed. by Toshiharu Nakamura (Leiden: Brill), pp. 1–53
Pastoor, Gabriël M. C. 1994. ‘Biblische Historienbilder im Goldenen Zeitalter in Privatbesitz’, Im Lichte Rembrandts. Das Alte Testament im Goldenen Zeitalter der niederländischen Kunst, ed. by Christian Tümpel et al. (Zwolle: Waanders Verlag), pp. 122–33
