Self-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
Ferdinand Bol(Dordrecht 1616 – 1680 Amsterdam)1648
oil on canvas
85.5 x 71 cm
signed and dated in dark paint, on sheet of paper
along lower right: “Bol. fecit 1648”
FB-107© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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How to cite
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Self-Portrait, Behind a Parapet” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/(archived December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

Seated behind a parapet, his right arm resting with assured elegance on a richly

Comparative Figures

patterned pillow, Ferdinand Bol commands the gaze of the viewer in this refined andfanciful self-portrait.[1] Bol portrayed himself in the foreground of the picture planein a three-quarter-length pose, wearing a deep red and gold-trimmed velvet cloak,
thick gold chains and medallion, and a black beret topped with a long arched feather.
He exudes confidence and grace, and a bit of youthful arrogance. Bol’s signature andthe date of 1648 can be read on the paper he holds gingerly near the edge of theparapet.[2] Against the muted brown background, strong contrasts of light and dark
model his dignified form and reveal the varied textures of the fabric, particularly the
sheen of the gold thread on his red cloak. His face is distinguished by a small
moustache and goatee, while the brown curls of his hair reach his shoulders.
Bol executed this painting at the age of thirty-two, and though he already enjoyed aprosperous career in Amsterdam, the portrait’s heightened splendor and historicizing

Fig 1. Rembrandt van Rijn, SelfPortrait at the Age of 34, 1640, oil oncanvas, 102 x 80 cm, National Gallery,
London, NG672, © National Gallery,
London / Art Resource, NY

costume belonged to an imagined artistic and gentlemanly persona rather than to acontemporary reality.[3] For this inventive mode of self-representation, Bol turned toRembrandt van Rijn (1606–69) as his source of inspiration. Scholars have long noted
how Bol modeled this image, as well as a number of his other self-portraits andtronies from the mid- to late 1640s, on Rembrandt’s 1640 Self-Portrait at the Age of
34 in the National Gallery, London (fig 1).[4] Following Rembrandt’s model, Bol has
here situated himself behind a balustrade, with his right arm protruding ever soslightly into the viewer’s space. His varied brushwork and use of chiaroscuro to createrich tonal contrasts also derive from Rembrandt’s prototype.[5] Bol’s costume wassimilarly imaginative, combining, as it does, sixteenth-century elements, such as the
doublet and beret, and contemporary elements such as the red cloak.[6]Fig 2. Rembrandt van Rijn, Self© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
Page 3 of 10

Rembrandt’s London Self-Portrait was an assertive statement of his aspirations andcapabilities as an artist.[7] It evoked his status and success, as well as his Italian

Portrait Aged 23, 1629, oil on wood,
89.7 x 73.5 cm, Isabella Steward
Gardner Museum, Boston, P21n6

sources of inspiration: Raphael’s Portrait of Castiglione and Titian’s Portrait of aMan.[8] Bol would have been well aware of these associations, and by basing his selfportrait on Rembrandt’s example, he positioned himself as a protégé of his master andwithin the framework of his great Renaissance predecessors. While it is impossible toconsider Self-Portrait, Behind a Parapet without Rembrandt’s precedent, thesophistication of this image demonstrated Bol’s keen interest in self-representation
and willingness to assert his own artistic identity.[9]Bol both departed from and fused together Rembrandt’s models in creating this selfportrait. Large gold chains—a mark of the nobility of the painter’s profession—lie
imposingly across his chest.[10] Considering that Bol was never granted a gold chain,
the inclusion of them here demonstrates his self-assurance about his abilities as apainter.[11] In this regard, Bol’s personality may have been similar to Rembrandt’s

Fig 3. Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait,
1646, oil on canvas, 102 x 85.5 cm,
Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht

youthful sense of self as evident in his 1629 Self-Portrait Aged 23 at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum (fig 2).[12] This painting, created when Rembrandt was stillin Leiden, shows the young artist similarly wearing a gold chain, although, like Bol,he was never given one by a wealthy or noble patron.
Bol was deeply invested in self-portraiture in the second half of the 1640s.[13] In his
earliest dated Self-Portrait from 1646, he depicted himself wearing a black beret, agold-trimmed red cloak, and a thin gold chain around his neck (fig 3).[14] He also
extended his right gloved hand toward the viewer in a rhetorical gesture that activatesthe pictorial space. Bol further modified this portrait type in his Self-Portrait in
Springfield, dated one year later. In this work, he portrayed himself behind abalustrade within a stone archway while pushing aside a gold-colored curtain.[15] Bolappears noticeably older in the Dordrecht and Springfield works, and his facial
features have changed, including a wider nose and chin and thicker moustache andgoatee. These differences in physiognomy have led scholars to question the identityof the sitter in this group of self-portraits, yet they all seem to represent theartist.[16] The Leiden Collection Self-Portrait stands out in this group in its blending of
portraiture and fantasy, while sumptuously displaying Bol’s pictorial acumen.[17] For
all these reasons, this striking Self-Portrait is a fitting capstone to The Leiden
Collection’s outstanding group of works by Ferdinand Bol, the largest assemblage ofhis paintings outside of the Hermitage.

- Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 2017
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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Endnotes
1. See Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 67, 119, no.
63. There is a known copy of FB-107, executed on panel and oval in shape—one of the few works onpanel done by Bol—though its present whereabouts are unknown. It has the same composition as
FB-107 with nearly identical measurements, except for slight cropping on its sides. Blankert, following
the opinion of Mellaart, believed the work to be good copy by either Bol or a follower. See J. H. J.
Mellaart, “Self-Portraits by Bol,” Burlington Magazine 43, no. 247 (1923): 154; Albert Blankert,
Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 119, no. 63a. Recent technicalinvestigation has shown that there were triangular shapes in the upper corners of FB-107 previously
painted black. These areas were subsequently toned to match the background color during restoration.
These changes suggest that FB-107 may originally have been taller, and possibly painted with a shallow
arched upper edge in a way similar to Bol’s self-portraits in Springfield and London. See Ferdinand Bol,
Self-Portrait, ca. 1647, oil on canvas, 97.4 x 77.8 cm, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts(see discussion below); Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait with Palette, ca. 1653, oil on canvas, 105 x 82.5 cm(rounded at top), private collection, London.
2. The date has been previously read as 1643 or 1647.
3. For Bol’s early career in Amsterdam, see the artist’s biography in this catalogue, and Albert Blankert,
Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 29–39, 56–59.
4. Bol made a drawn copy of Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait when he was an assistant in the master’s studio (redand black chalk, gray wash, 17.8 x 12.8 cm, Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington
D.C.). The drawing carefully reproduces Rembrandt’s image, even its rounded composition. Bol
produced at least six similar images in this period. For Bol’s series of self-portraits and tronies, which are
discussed further below, see Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil(Doornspijk, 1982), nos. 60–65. While FB-107 relates directly to Rembrandt’s 1640 painting, it alsobroadly reflects Bol’s familiarity with the master’s Self-Portrait, Leaning on a Stone Wall, 1639, etchingand drypoint, 20.5 x 16.4 cm. Both painting and etching provided the portrait type that Bol and anumber of Rembrandt pupils followed in the 1640s. See, for example, GF-103, and Govert Flinck,
Self-Portrait Aged 24, 1639, oil on panel, 65.8 x 54.4 cm, National Gallery, London.
5. Notably, Bol did not follow Rembrandt’s arched composition in FB-107.
6. Despite the contemporary element of his dress, Bol’s costume in FB-107 would have been described as
antyk, indicating its historicizing character. For example, Bol wears a jerkin, identifiable by its
horizontal neckline, over a white doublet, which went out of style by the mid-sixteenth century. The
elegant black beret, or bonnet, was also characteristic of sixteenth-century fashion. For this style,Rembrandt was influenced by sixteenth-century prints, including Lucas van Leyden’s Portrait of aYoung Man with a Skull, ca. 1519, engraving, 18.4 x 14.4 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, andHieronymous Cock’s portrait of Lucas van Leyden, 1572, engraving, Rijksprentenkabinet,© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Bol, who may have been familiar with these prints as well, could have also
looked to a number of Rembrandt’s historicizing self-portrait prints, such as Self-Portrait with Saskia,
1636, etching, 10.4 x 9.5 cm, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, or Self-Portrait in
Sixteenth-Century Apparel, 1638, etching, 13.4 x 10.3 cm, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam. For a discussion of costume in Rembrandt’s self-portraits, and its interpretations andcomparisons to Bol’s dress, see Ariane van Suchtelen, “Pupils of Rembrandt,” in Rembrandt by Himself,
ed. Christopher White and Quentin Buvelot (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; London, National
Gallery) (Zwolle, 1999), 234–35; Marieke de Winkel, “Costume in Rembrandt’s Self Portraits,” inRembrandt by Himself, ed. Christopher White and Quentin Buvelot (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis;
London, National Gallery) (Zwolle, 1999), 67–74; Marieke de Winkel, Fashion and Fancy: Dress andMeaning in Rembrandt’s Paintings (Amsterdam, 2006), 163–89.
7. See H. Perry Chapman, Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity (Princeton,
1990), 69, 71–72, 74–76, 81, 87–88, 91, 120, 130–31; Christopher White and Quentin Buvelot, eds.,
Rembrandt by Himself (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; London, National Gallery) (Zwolle, 1999),
no. 54.
8. Raphael, Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, before 1516, oil on canvas, 82 x 67 cm, Musée du Louvre,
Paris; Titian, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1512, oil on canvas, 81.2 x 66.3 cm, National Gallery, London. For
Rembrandt’s engagement with these paintings, see Eddy de Jongh, “The Spur of Wit: Rembrandt’s
Response to an Italian Challenge,” Delta 12 (1969): 49–67; H. Perry Chapman, Rembrandt’s SelfPortraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity (Princeton, 1990), 69–78.
9. The derivative nature of Bol’s self-portraits is emphasized repeatedly in the scholarship. See, forexample, Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 57–58;
H. Perry Chapman, Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits: A Study in Seventeenth-Century Identity (Princeton,
1990), 80–81.
10. Bol’s gold chains, which form part of his historicizing costume, project a sense of nobility. Although
they were probably intended to emphasize the fanciful nature of this portrait, they do, nonetheless,suggest an association with images of courtly artists, such as Titian and Anthony van Dyck, who
portrayed themselves wearing the gold chains that had been given to them by their respective sovereigns.
See Titian, Self-Portrait, ca. 1562, oil on canvas, 86 x 65 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, andAnthony van Dyck, Self-Portrait with Sunflower, ca. 1635–36, oil on canvas, 60.3 x 73 cm, private
collection.
11. Rembrandt portrayed himself wearing a gold chain on numerous occasions; see, for example, fig. 2; SelfPortrait with Beret and Gold Chain, ca. 1630–31, oil on panel, 69.7 x 57 cm, Walker Art Gallery,
Liverpool; Self-Portrait, 1633, oil on panel, 61 x 48.1 cm (oval), Musée du Louvre, Paris. See
Christopher White and Quentin Buvelot, eds., Rembrandt by Himself (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis;
London, National Gallery) (Zwolle, 1999), nos. 10, 26, 35. In another departure from Rembrandt, who
depicted his signature on the wooden balustrade in the London painting, Bol cleverly portrayed his
signature on the paper between his hands.
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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12. For this portrait, see, for example, Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Rembrandt Inventing Himself,” inRembrandt Creates Rembrandt: Art and Ambition in Leiden, 1629–1631, ed. Alan Chong (Exh. cat.
Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) (Boston, 2000), 13–24.
13. Aside from the paintings in Dordrecht and Springfield discussed below, Bol executed two self-portraits
that closely followed Rembrandt’s 1639 etching in reverse. Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait, 1647, oil oncanvas, 101 x 88 cm, Toledo Museum of Art; Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait, 1647, oil on canvas, 93 x
83.5 cm, present whereabouts unknown. A work presently in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in
Madrid (Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait, ca. 1647, oil on canvas, 88.6 x 77 cm) has been called a selfportrait or portrait of a young man. See Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil(Doornspijk, 1982), 118–22; nos. 61–62, 65; Werner Sumowksi, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6
vols. (Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94), 1:305, no. 136.
14. Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 58, 64, 66, 118,
no. 60; Werner Sumowksi, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. (Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94),
1:305, no. 135; Albert Blankert, ed., Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact (Exh. cat. Melbourne,
National Gallery of Victoria; Canberra, National Gallery of Australia) (Zwolle, 1997–98), 248–49, no.
45; Ariane van Suchtelen, “Pupils of Rembrandt,” in Rembrandt by Himself, ed. Christopher White andQuentin Buvelot (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; London, National Gallery) (Zwolle, 1999), 234–36,
no. 87.
15. Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait, ca. 1647, oil on canvas, 97.4 x 77.8 cm, Springfield Museum of Fine Arts,
Massachusetts. Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982),
119–20, no. 64; Werner Sumowksi, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. (Landau and Pfalz,
1983–94), 1:306, no. 138; Albert Blankert, ed., Rembrandt: A Genius and His Impact (Exh. cat.
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria; Canberra, National Gallery of Australia) (Zwolle, 1997–98),
250–51, no. 46; Alice I. Davies, 16th– and 17th-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings in the SpringfieldMuseum of Fine Arts (Springfield, 1993), 26–29, no. 2. Several copies exist of this work; see Albert
Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 120, nos. 64a, 64b, 64c.
16. The number of self-portraits that Bol produced in the 1640s has long been a subject of debate in thescholarship, sparked by the question of the identity of the sitters. Abraham Bredius and Cornelis
Hofstede de Groot first debated the issue at the beginning of the twentieth century, joined soon
thereafter by J. H. J. Mellaart. Given the close associations that exist between many of Bol’s portraits
and tronies—character studies of anonymous individuals often portrayed in fanciful costume like theartist in FB-107—scholars have questioned whether Bol’s images actually represent him. Dagmar
Hirschfelder addresses the close relationship and, consequently, the distinctions between tronie andportrait in her comprehensive study, Tronie und Porträt in der niederländischen Malerei des 17.
Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 2008). For her discussion of Bol’s tronies specifically, see 136–37, 277–82. For theissue of Bol’s self-portraits, as well as further literature, see Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol(1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), 57–59; Albert Blankert, ed., Rembrandt: A Genius
and His Impact (Exh. cat. Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria; Canberra, National Gallery of© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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Australia) (Zwolle, 1997–98), 248–50, nos. 45–46.
17. For Bol’s late self-portraits from the 1650s and 1660s, see Self-Portrait with Palette, 1653, oil on canvas,
105 x 82.5 cm (rounded at top), private collection, London; Self-Portrait, ca. 1669, oil on canvas, 128 x
104 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Albert Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil(Doornspijk, 1982), nos. 66 and 103.

Provenance[Sulley & Co., London; Knoedler & Co., New York, by July 1921; Howard Young Galleries, New York,by November 1923; John Levy Galleries, New York; Knoedler & Co., New York, by March, 1949].
William Bass, by April 1949; [Knoedler & Co., by June 1950].
Mr. and Mrs. Lauritz Melchior, Los Angeles, by June 1950.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lauritz Melchior to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1955; (sale,
Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2010, no. 162 [Jack Kilgore & Co., Inc., New York]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2010.

Exhibition History
San Antonio, Witte Memorial Museum, “Loan Exhibition of Paintings of the Sixteenth to the
Nineteenth Century from M. Knoedler & Co.,” 26 October–7 November 1949, no. 2 [lent by Knoedler& Co.].
Dallas, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, “Four Centuries of European Painting: An Exhibition of Sixty
British and European Paintings from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries,” 6–31 October 1951, no.
28 [lent by Mr. and Mrs. Lauritz Melchior].
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Rembrandt and His Pupils,” 16 November–30 December
1956, no. 2 [lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art].
La Jolla, La Jolla Museum of Art, “Dutch and Flemish Paintings of the Northern Renaissance,” 13June–20 September 1964, no. 2 [lent by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art].
Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, March 2013–March 2016 [lent by
the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by the present owner].
Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May 2019 [lent by the present
owner].

References
Mellaart, J. H. J. “Self-Portraits by Bol.” Burlington Magazine 43 (October 1923): 153–54, pl. IIC.
Isarlov, George. “Rembrandt et son entourage.” La Renaissance (July–September 1936): 34.
Witte Memorial Museum. Loan Exhibition of Paintings of the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century from M.
Knoedler & Co. Exh. cat. San Antonio, Witte Memorial Museum. San Antonio, 1949, no. 2.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts=. Four Centuries of European Painting: An Exhibition of Sixty British andEuropean Paintings from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. Exh. cat. Dallas, Dallas Museum ofFine Arts. Dallas, 1951, no. 28.
Dobrzycka, Anna. “Autoportrety Ferdinanda Bola.” Biuletyn Historii Sztuki 18, no. 3 (1956): 421, no. 7.
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. Rembrandt and His Pupils. Exh. cat. Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art.
Raleigh, 1956, no. 2.
Brown, Richard F. “Recent Gifts of Painting.” Los Angeles County Museum Bulletin of the Art Division 8,
no. 4 (1957): 6, no. 1.
Van Hall, Hermine. Portretten van Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars. Amsterdam, 1963, 30, no. 8.
La Jolla Museum of Art. Dutch and Flemish Paintings of the Northern Renaissance. Exh. cat. La Jolla, La
Jolla Museum of Art. La Jolla, 1964, no. 2.
Richardson, Hilary. “Bol’s ‘David’s Dying Charge to Solomon’ in the National Gallery of Ireland.”Studies 67, no. 267 (Autumn 1973): 228–29, no. 9.
Blankert, Albert. Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680), Rembrandt’s Pupil. Doornspijk, 1982, 67, 119, no. 63.
Originally published as Ferdinand Bol, 1616–1680: een leerling van Rembrandt. The Hague, 1976.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden. 6 vols. Landau and Pfalz, 1983–95,
1: 305, under no. 135; 5: 3082, under no. 2009.
Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Grand Rapids, 1986, 132, 332.
Schaefer, Scott, et al. European Painting and Sculpture in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los
Angeles, 1987, 19.
Chapman, H. Perry. Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits. Princeton, 1990, 81, 157 n. 8, no. 111.
Kok, Erna. “De succesvolle loopbanen van de zeventiende-eeuwse kunstenaars Govert Flinck en
Ferdinand Bol.” De Zeventiende Eeuw 27, no. 2 (2011): 320, no. 9.
Kok, Erna. “Govert Flinck & Ferdinand Bol: zonder vrienden geen carrière.” In Culturele ondernemers in© 2024 The Leiden CollectionSelf-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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de Gouden Eeuw. Amsterdam, 2013, 58–59.
Kok, Erna. “Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol and Their Networks of Influential Clients.” In Ferdinand Bol
and Govert Flinck – Rembrandt’s Master Pupils. Edited by Norbert Middelkoop and David DeWitt, 73,
fig. no. 93. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis.
Zwolle, 2017.
McCarthy, Alexa. “Self-Portrait, Behind a Parapet.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 72–73; 232, no. 3. Translated by
Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St.
Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Blanc, Jan. “Being Modern, Being Dutch: The Seventeenth-Century Invention of the Golden Age. In
Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.” Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Muséedu Louvre. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 42. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019, 96, no. 28. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]

Versions
Versions and Copies
1. After Ferdinand Bol, Self-Portrait behind a Parapet, oil on panel (oval), 83 x 66 cm, Albert
Blankert, Ferdinand Bol (1616–1680), Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), no. 63a, present
whereabouts unknown.

Technical Summary
The support, a single piece of medium-weight, plain-weave fabric with tacking margins removed, has been
lined. There is pronounced cusping along the lower edge, slight cusping along the left and right edges andnone along the upper edge. The frame has an embossed “M Grieve and Co.” maker’s mark, and the stretcher
and frame have Los Angeles County Museum of Art labels, but there are no wax collection seals, importstamps, stencils or inscriptions along the lining or stretcher reverse.
Although the support is stretched in a rectangular format, subtle diagonally oriented creases along the paintsurface of the upper left[1] and right[2] corners and triangles of dark paint along both upper corners, whichwere toned to match the green background during conservation treatment, suggest a change in format along
the upper edge. The support may originally have been slightly taller, which would have allowed more room
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Self-Portrait, Behind a Parapet
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above the plume of the figure’s hat, and the composition may originally have been painted with a shallow
arch or framed with a shaped liner.[3]A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied.[4] The paint has been smoothly applied with areasof low impasto along the details of the figure’s hat, the gold chains and medallion hanging from the figure’sneck, the pillow along the parapet, and the upturned corner of the paper that the figure holds.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000
nanometers.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint on a sheet of paper, which the figure holds along the lower
right corner of the composition. The signature and date are oriented upside down facing the figure, not theviewer.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2010 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Forms a triangle: 8.5 cm wide x 16 cm long as measured from upper left corner.

2. Forms a triangle: 6 cm wide x 10 cm long as measured from upper right corner.
3. Two Bol self-portraits executed on rectangular supports form shallow arches across the widths of theupper edges and are taller than FB-107: Portrait of the Artist owned by Baron Bruno Schroeder, The
Dell, Englefield Green, Surrey, England, and Self-Portrait, Athenium Helsinki, Finland.
4. There is no X-radiograph of this painting that would indicate whether the ground is radio-opaque.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection