DOI issue:
Nr. 3-4
DOI article:Monkiewicz, Maciej: Ter Brugghen and Honthorst in Poland
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18945#0231
unfortunately did not have the opportunity to see it firsthand. The painting
represents a well-known episode from the Passion, when Pilate makes it
understood publicly that he does not bear the resposibility for the death of
Christ (Mathew XXVII, 24). Ter Brugghen gives a surprisingly intimate
interpretation of this scene: only three figures are represented in a vague
space, enveloped in a grayish-brownish gloom, very close to each other in
a frieze-like narrow zone, parallel to the picture plane. Two figures in the
foreground - Pilate outstretching his hands over the bowl, and a young servant
cautiously pouring water on them, the two facing each other and absorbed in
their interaction, with their profiles towards the viewer.
When Nicolson published his monograph on ter Brugghen in 1958, he was
unaware of the existence of the Lublin canvas. He accepted the version in
Kassel (Fig. 2, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Schloß Wilhelmshöhe), as a prime
one, dating it c. 1620-21, considering the one in the Shipley Art Gallery at
Gateshead a copy. The attribution of the Pilate in Kassel was criticized by
Judson (1961) and Van Thiel (1971).2 In 1973 Nicolson published our painting
together with the next two versions, the one on the London art market and the
one in a private collection in Madrid, which he admitted to be distinctly
2 B. Nicolson, Hendrick Terbrugghen, The Hague 1958, cat. no. A 13, p.53-54; J.R. Judson, [Review
of Nicolson, op. cit.\. The Art Bulletin, 43 (1961), p. 346; P. J. J. van Thiel, “De aanbidding der
koningen en ander vroeg werk van Hendrick ter Brugghen”, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 19
(December 1971), p.104.
Ì. Hendrick ter Brugghen,
Pilate Washing his Hands,
Lublin, Muzeum Lubelskie
221
represents a well-known episode from the Passion, when Pilate makes it
understood publicly that he does not bear the resposibility for the death of
Christ (Mathew XXVII, 24). Ter Brugghen gives a surprisingly intimate
interpretation of this scene: only three figures are represented in a vague
space, enveloped in a grayish-brownish gloom, very close to each other in
a frieze-like narrow zone, parallel to the picture plane. Two figures in the
foreground - Pilate outstretching his hands over the bowl, and a young servant
cautiously pouring water on them, the two facing each other and absorbed in
their interaction, with their profiles towards the viewer.
When Nicolson published his monograph on ter Brugghen in 1958, he was
unaware of the existence of the Lublin canvas. He accepted the version in
Kassel (Fig. 2, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Schloß Wilhelmshöhe), as a prime
one, dating it c. 1620-21, considering the one in the Shipley Art Gallery at
Gateshead a copy. The attribution of the Pilate in Kassel was criticized by
Judson (1961) and Van Thiel (1971).2 In 1973 Nicolson published our painting
together with the next two versions, the one on the London art market and the
one in a private collection in Madrid, which he admitted to be distinctly
2 B. Nicolson, Hendrick Terbrugghen, The Hague 1958, cat. no. A 13, p.53-54; J.R. Judson, [Review
of Nicolson, op. cit.\. The Art Bulletin, 43 (1961), p. 346; P. J. J. van Thiel, “De aanbidding der
koningen en ander vroeg werk van Hendrick ter Brugghen”, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 19
(December 1971), p.104.
Ì. Hendrick ter Brugghen,
Pilate Washing his Hands,
Lublin, Muzeum Lubelskie
221