Northern Netherlandish School, 1636

Portrait of a Boy

Oil on copper, 23 x 17.5 cm (9.1 x 6.9 inch); contained in an ebonised frame

Dated ‘Ao 1636’ (upper left)

Provenance
~ Anonymous sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 16 March 1979, lot 15, repr. (as ‘School of Thomas de Keyser’)
~ Private collection, The Netherlands

***

This charming and mysterious portrait shows a boy standing, his hand loosely holding a pair of gloves, casually leaning on a Dutch Renaissance chair upholstered with gilded leather. Despite the three-quarter length representation, showing the wealthy clothing of the boy, the painting is of small size, painted on copper.

Few portrait painters of this period painted such small-scale works on copper supports. As a possible attribution, one might think of Cornelis Saftleven (Gorinchem c.1607 – 1681 Rotterdam).¹ Saftleven worked in Antwerp from 1632 to 1634, where he was taught by Adriaen Brouwer and David Teniers II. He then worked in Utrecht and in 1637 moved to Rotterdam. An extraordinary early self-portrait by Saftleven of c.1628, holding a drawing of a monkey, is preserved in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (fig.).² Furthermore, two small portraits on copper of Godard van Reede, Heer van Nederhorst, and his wife Catharina van Utenhove, both dated 1634, are preserved in the collections of Slot Zuylen (fig.).³

SOLD

1.For the artist, see: W. Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven (1607-1681). Leben und Werke, Berlin/New York 1978.
2. Oil on copper, 21.1 x 15.5 cm, Fondation Custodia, Paris; B.J.A. Renckens, ‘Enkele notitie bij vroege werken van Cornelis Saftleven’, Bulletin Museum Boymans van Beuningen 13 (1962), p. 59, fig. 12.
3. Both oil on copper, 20 x 16 cm, Slot Zuylen, Oud Zuilen, inv. nos. S188 and S189. Schulz, op. cit., p. 226-227; cat. nos 641 and 642.