Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man

1665

Frans van Mieris(Leiden 1635 – 1681 Leiden)

oil on panel
19.2 x 15 cm
signed and dated, upper left corner, oversculptural niche: “AET. 52. (AE in ligature) / F.
van Mieris / 1665.”
FM-104© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man
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How To Cite
Buvelot, Quentin. "Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited byArthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
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Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man
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The refined paintings that Frans van Mieris produced with saintly patience

Comparative Figures

made him renowned during his lifetime both in his own country andabroad. Like Gerrit Dou (1613–75), he was among the best-paid paintersof the Golden Age. From the voluminous book of inventories of the estatesof people living on Rapenburg in Leiden, it can be inferred that Van
Mieris’s paintings were always more highly valued than those by hiscontemporaries.[1] These inventories also provide a unique picture of thevaried social status, financial position and religious background of some ofhis buyers, as well as the composition and size of their collections. Van
Mieris built a devoted clientele in Leiden that included Franciscus de leBoë Sylvius (1614–72), an internationally famous professor of chemistry
and medicine whom Houbraken described as Van Mieris’s patron.[2] The
1673 inventory of Sylvius’s estate—his house at Rapenburg 31 still stands
today—indicates that he possessed seven works by Van Mieris and an
astonishing eleven by Dou.[3] Houbraken states explicitly that Sylvius gave
Van Mieris regular commissions and had the first right of purchase of hisworks for a fixed fee.[4]Fig 1. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
Double Portrait of Franciscus dele Boë Sylvius and His Wife,
known as “The Music Lesson,”
1672, panel with arched top, 41 x
31 cm, StaatlicheKunstsammlungen,Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister,Dresden, 1743

Among the works by Van Mieris described in the inventory of Sylvius’s
estate was a painting of “the deceased with his second wife by VanMieris.”[5] Without doubt, the overly labored double portrait of a couple of1672 in Dresden is the painting described in the inventory, which wasdrawn up only a year after the completion of the painting (fig 1).[6] Thishypothesis was first proposed by Otto Naumann, who noticed that the faceof the man, with his wide, flat and square chin, is identical to that in theengraving of Sylvius that Cornelis van Dalen (1638–64) made in 1659(fig2).[7] The convincing likeness is confirmed by a description of the painting
in the 1678 inventory of Sylvius’s nephew Jean Rouyer: “The portrait ofProfessor Sylvius and his wife playing the lute.”[8]The genre-like portrait isin effect an “in memoriam” painting for Sylvius’s second wife, Margareta
Lucretia Schlezer, who died before it was finished. The lute is a well-Fig 2. Cornelis van Dalen, Portraitof Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius,1659, engraving (fourth state),
306 x 238 mm, British Museum,London, 1864,0714.17, ©
Trustees of the British Museum

known reference to the harmony of love.[9] The professor is known to haveowned at least six portraits of himself, painted, drawn, and engraved,
including the 1659 print.[10]Naumann has tentatively proposed that the present painting, fully signed
and dated 1665, also represents Sylvius; however, this identification
cannot be supported.[11] The inscription in the upper left corner of thepresent painting, “Aetatis 52,” which is repeated on the back of the panel,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man
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clearly gives the age of the sitter as fifty-two, but Sylvius would not reachthat age until 15 March 1666.[12] Moreover, the sitter does not resemble
the man portrayed in Van Dalen’s 1659 engraving.[13] Although themoustache and goatee are comparable, his face is narrower and his hair isless curly. Finally, the inventory of Sylvius’s estate lists all the paintings in
his collection, including the family portraits, but this work is not among
them.[14]The sitter’s rich black cloak, which typifies the man as a well-to-do burgher
from Leiden, is brilliantly rendered, much to the liking of contemporary
viewers (for more on this subject, see FM-110.a and FM-110.b). In its
depiction of such vestments, the portrait is akin to Portrait of a Man of1663 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) and Portrait of Florentius Schuyl of
1666 (Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague).[15] The simplicity
and balance of the present painting is striking, as Van Mieris’s portraits ofmale sitters are usually somewhat labored. The backdrop of architecturewith a classical ambience and a cloudy sky that Van Mieris introduced inthis work adds to the sitter’s grandeur. In a similar manner, Van Mieris
modeled the man’s elegant gesture on the portrait idiom of the Flemish
painter Anthony van Dyck (1559–1641), whose famous series of portraits,
the Iconographie, had been engraved in 1645.[16]-Quentin Buvelot© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man
Page 5 of 8Endnotes
1. See C. W. Fock in Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , ed. T. H. Lunsingh
Scheurleer, 6 vols. and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 5a:17.
2. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en
schilderessen, 3 vols. (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint,Amsterdam, 1980), 3:3; For Sylvius’s life, see the references in Otto Naumann,Frans vanMieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:25 n. 23, 137 n. 247.
3. For the inventory, see Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols.
(Doornspijk, 1981), 1:175; T. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis
van een Leidse gracht, 6 vols. and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 1:31–32, 3a:278–95, 335–42,
5a:10, 25. For a detailed discussion of the collection, see E. J. Sluijter, “‘All striving to adorne
their houses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studies of Paintings in Wealthy Interiors,” inArt& Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt , ed. M. Westermann (Exh. cat. NewarkMuseum; Denver Art Museum) (Zwolle, 2001), 105–16; cf. also Pamela H. Smith, “Scienceand Taste: Painting, Passions, and the New Philosophy in Seventeenth-Century Leiden,”Isis 90 (1999): 421–61.
4. See also T. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse
gracht, 6 vols. and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 5a: 10; E. J. Sluijter, “‘All striving to adorne theirhouses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studies of Paintings in Wealthy Interiors,” inArt &Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt , ed. M. Westermann (Exh. cat. NewarkMuseum; Denver Art Museum) (Zwolle, 2001), 110, 229 n. 34.
5. “Den overleden[en] met sijn laetste huysvr[ouw] van Mi[e]ris.” Quoted from T. H. Lunsingh
Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6 vols. and index(Leiden, 1986–92), 3a:337. See Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:101; E. J. Sluijter, “‘All striving to adorne their houses with costlypeeces’: Two Case Studies of Paintings in Wealthy Interiors,” inArt & Home: Dutch Interiors
in the Age of Rembrandt , ed. M. Westermann (Exh. cat. Newark Museum; Denver ArtMuseum) (Zwolle, 2001), 107, 110, 113 (and fig. 141), 228 n. 27.
6. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:80,83 (and n. 23), 138, 140, 2:101, no. 89; T. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed.,Het Rapenburg:Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6 vols. and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 3a:290, 291,292 (fig. 5); Rudi Ekkart, “Leidse Burgers in Beeld: Portrettisten in Leiden van de latezestiende tot de vroege achttiende eeuw,” in ibid., 6a:24, 38 n. 109; E. J. Sluijter, “‘Allstriving to adorne their houses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studies of Paintings inWealthy Interiors,” in Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt , ed. M.
Westermann (Exh. cat. Newark Museum; Denver Art Museum) (Zwolle, 2001), 107, 110,
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man
Page 6 of 8113 and fig. 141, 196, no. 85, 228 n. 27; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681(Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven,2005), 18, fig. 7, 236, no. 89.
7. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:138and fig. 10.
8. Eric Jan Sluijter, “‘All striving to adorne their houses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studiesof Paintings in Wealthy Interiors,” in Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt ,ed. M. Westermann (Exh. cat. Newark Museum; Denver Art Museum) (Zwolle, 2001), 228 n.
27.
9. Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de nederlandse kunst
van de zeventiende eeuw (Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum) (Zwolle 1986), 40–45.
10. Eric Jan Sluijter, “‘All striving to adorne their houses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studiesof Paintings in Wealthy Interiors,” in Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt ,ed. M. Westermann (Exh. cat. Newark Museum; Denver Art Museum) (Zwolle, 2001), 113.
11. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:70,138, 2:78–79, no. 62.
12. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:138,
mistakenly writes that in 1665 Sylvius “would have passed from fifty-two to fifty-three yearsof age.”
13. Eric Jan Sluijter, “‘All striving to adorne their houses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studies
of Paintings in Wealthy Interiors,” in Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age of Rembrandt ,ed. M. Westermann (Exh. cat. Newark Museum; Denver Art Museum) (Zwolle, 2001), 228 n.
27, even writes: “In my opinion, the other portrait that Naumann thinks might be Sylvius
definitely represents a different face.”
14. As already pointed out by Rudi Ekkart, “Leidse Burgers in Beeld: Portrettisten in Leiden vande late zestiende tot de vroege achttiende eeuw,” inHet Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een
Leidse gracht, ed. T. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, 6 vols. and index (Leiden, 1986–92), 6a: 25.
The inventory is fully listed in Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:175. A portrait of Sylvius by Van Mieris listed by Hofstede deGroot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten
höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts , 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28),
10:70-71, no. 261, was larger and only bore the monogram of the artist (see Otto Naumann,Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. [Doornspijk, 1981], 2:79; T. H. Lunsingh
Scheurleer, ed., Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht , 6 vols. and index[Leiden, 1986–92], 3a:291, 353 n. 102).
15. For the painting in Florence, see Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2: no. 57; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh.
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old Man
Page 7 of 8cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005),
235, no. 57; for the painting in The Hague, see Naumann 1981, 2: no. 63; Buvelot 2005, no.
37. Schuyl was a Leiden professor who commissioned only one work from Van Mieris, afterhaving obtained his doctorate two years earlier under the supervision of Sylvius, whoprobably introduced the two men.
16. M. Mauquoy-Hendrickx, L’iconographie d’Antoine van Dyck, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1991); G.
Luijten in C. Depauw, G. Luijten, et al., Antoon van Dyck en de prentkunst (Exh. cat.
Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) (Antwerp, 1999), 73–91.

Provenance
Probably Adam Gottlob, Count Moltke, Copenhagen; by inheritance to Frederik Christian
Moltke van Bregentved, Copenhagen, until 1931 (Moltke sale, V. Winkel & Magnussen,Copenhagen, 1 June 1931, no. 85).
(Sale, Stockholm, Bukowski, 27 April 1955, no. 177).
(Sale, Paris, Drouot, Rieunier & Bailly-Pommery, 24 March 1999, no. 19, not sold; Paris,Drouot, Rieunier & Associés, 2 December 2002, no. 58 [Otto Naumann Ltd., New York,2003].
From whom acquired by the present owner.

References
Catalogue des tableaux de la collection du comte de Moltke . Copenhagen, 1885, 25, no.
44.
Champlin, John Denison and Perkins, Charles C., eds. Cyclopedia of Painters andPaintings. 3 vols. New York, 1887, 3:265.
Von Wurzbach, Alfred. Niederlandisches Kunstler-Lexikon. 3 vols. Vienna and Leipzig,1906–11, 2:165.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke derhervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen andParis, 1907–28, 10:77, no. 287.
Naumann, Otto. Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder . 2 vols. Doornspijk, 1981, 1:70,138, 2:78–79, no. 62.
Lunsingh Scheurleer, T. H., ed. Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht . 6© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of a Fifty-Two Year Old ManPage 8 of 8vols. and index. Leiden, 1986–92, 3a:291, 292, fig. 6, 353 n. 102.
Ekkart, Rudi. “Leidse Burgers in Beeld: Portrettisten in Leiden van de late zestiende tot devroege achttiende eeuw.” In Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht. Editedby T. H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, 6a:24–25. 6 vols. and index. Leiden, 1986–92.
Sluijter, E. J. “‘All striving to adorne their houses with costly peeces’: Two Case Studies ofPaintings in Wealthy Interiors.” In Art & Home: Dutch Interiors in the Age ofRembrandt. Edited by M. Westermann, 102–27, 228 n. 27. Exh. cat. Newark Museum;
Denver Art Museum. Zwolle, 2001.
Naumann, Otto and Buvelot, Quentin. In Frans van Mieris 1635–1681. Edited by Quentin
Buvelot, 40, fig. 22, 41, 235, no. 62. Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C.,
National Gallery of Art. New Haven, 2005.

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertically grained, rectangular-shaped oak, has bevels and woodshims adhered with brads along all four sides.[1] The unthinned and uncradled panel has
machine tool marks along the left side of the reverse but no wax collection seals, import stamps,
labels or panel maker’s marks.
A light-colored ground is followed by a dark underlayer. The image was constructed with thinlayers of transparent glazing through the background and somewhat thicker paint along thefigure’s black cape, white collar, cuff, and proper right hand.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint over the arched niche in the upper left corner. The
upper edge of the AE written in ligature is cropped, which suggests the upper panel edge hasbeen trimmed slightly.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at780–1000 nanometers or in the X-radiograph.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2003 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination of the X-radiograph andpanel reverse images by Ian Tyers. According to Tyers, the panel has good potential for
dendrochronology but would require removal of either the upper or the lower shim.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection