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| Title | Jephthah and his Daughter | |
| Collection | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Artist | Attributed to Mauperché, Henri (French artist, ca. 1602-1687) Previously attributed to imitator of Patel, Pierre, I (French painter, ca.1605-1676) |
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| Date Earliest | about 1650 | |
| Date Latest | about 1687 | |
| Description | Jephthah was a great warrior called upon to lead the Israelites into battle with the Ammonites as described in Judges 2.30-40. On the eve of battle, he vowed that if he was granted victory he would sacrifice the first creature he saw upon his return. Tragically, the first to greet him on his return as his daughter. When she heard of the vow her father had made, she offered herself for sacrifice freely as the price of victory for her people. Although Jephthah is shown tearing his garments in anguish as his daughter advances towards him, the elegant, attenuated figures are really rather decorative and the real drama lies in the grandeur of the classical architecture. Christopher Wright observes that the low viewpoint implies that the painting could have formed part of a wall decoration. |
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| Current Accession Number | 1967P59 | |
| Former Accession Number | P.59´67 | |
| Subject | religion (Jephthah anda his Daughter ) | |
| Measurements | 122.0 x 111 cm.0 cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Purchased from the Heim Gallery with the aid of the Public Picture Gallery Fund 1967. | |
| Provenance | French Provincial Collection; Heim Gallery, Paris, 1967. | |
| Principal Exhibitions | French Paintings and Sculpture of the Seventeenth Century, Heim Galley, London, 1968, cat. no. 18; Old Masters from the City of Birmingham, Wildenstein, London, 1970, cat. no. 15; Masterpieces of Reality, Leicester Art Gallery, 1985, cat. no. 58. | |
| Publications | Sutton, D., Apollo, 1968, pp. 238-9; Wright, C., The French Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 1985, p. 225; Foreign Paintings in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, A Summary Catalogue, 1983, no. 110. | |
| Notes | Bought as a Patel, this was reattributed to Mauperché by Pierre Rosenberg in 1969 (verbal communication). C. Wright attributes the work to Mauperché based on the elaborate elongation of the figures. The work of these two artists is often difficult to distinguish. | |
| Rights Owner | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | |
| Author | Dr Patricia Smyth | |