Ahijah and Jeroboam (1604): Art, History and Details

Ahijah and Jeroboam (1604) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jan Saenredam (Dutch, 1565–1607); Jan Saenredam (Dutch, 1565–1607); Abraham Bloemaert (Dutch, 1566–1651).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

These four prints were likely meant as two pairs of engravings depicting scenes of the lives of the prophets Ahijah and Elijah. Although Elijah was a common subject for artists, works featuring Ahijah were extremely rare. Other than their common source, the Book of Kings from the Bible, they have no thematic link. The action in this print shows the prophet Ahijah giving the young Jeroboam-a rebel leader set against the idol-worshipping King Solomon-ten portions of his own new mantle. This symbolic gesture predicts Jeroboam's rise to power as king of the ten tribes of Israel. Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651) was the leading painter in Utrecht, where he enjoyed a long and prolific career. Coming to maturity at the height of Mannerism, his influential designs were widely disseminated through prints and drawings. Although he worked closely with printmakers like Jan Saenredam and Jacob Matham, he did not make prints himself, with the possible exception of one etching.

Object facts

• Title: Ahijah and Jeroboam
• Date: 1604
• Creator attribution: Jan Saenredam (Dutch, 1565–1607); Jan Saenredam (Dutch, 1565–1607); Abraham Bloemaert (Dutch, 1566–1651)
• Culture: Netherlands, early 17th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 25.5 x 19.5 cm (10 1/16 x 7 11/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1991.261

Collection credit

Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Louise S. Richards

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1992.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (February 1993): 38–79.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.