Bust of an Old Man

ca. 1640–45

Attributed to Gerrit Dou

oil on oval panel
20.4 x 17.8 cm
JvS-101© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old Man
Page 2 of 9

How To Cite
Van Tuinen, Ilona. "Bust of an Old Man." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock
Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
This page is available on the site's Archive. PDF of every version of this page is available on the Archive,
and the Archive is managed by a permanent URL. Archival copies will never be deleted. New versions areadded only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old Man
Page 3 of 9This little oval painting barely measures the size of a human hand, yet its

Comparative Figures

powerful, bust-length representation of an old man with piercing eyes
operates like a magnetic force: it commands our attention and pulls us
closer, imploring us to return the man’s gaze with equal intensity.
Illuminated by a strong light coming from the upper left, the man’s face isturned toward us, the shimmering highlights of his short, silver hair, long
moustache, and modest beard in contrast with the dark background. His
rather unassuming attire consists of a nondescript brown coat over a blue

Fig 1. Detail of Bust of an Old
Man, JvS-101, showing theforehead with rich impasto
highlights

shirt and a simple pleated white collar, the strings of which are carelessly
resting on his clothing rather than tucked away. The informality of this little
painting indicates that this is not a commissioned portrait, but a tronie, a
study of a facial type or expression. Indeed, the old man’s exceptionallystern look and furrowed brow betray an individual with a strong character.
With impeccable mastery, this tronie appears to have been executedquickly. The artist merely indicated the contours of the sitter’s proper left
ear, which is entirely in the dark, and used a single brushstroke to suggest
the presence of his right one. Instead, he focused on the intricate
reflections of light on the man’s aged skin. With swift strokes of a relatively
broad brush he built up the cheeks by alternating brown and creamy pinkhues. He used a slightly thinner brush for the single dark brown line above
the man’s proper right eye. For the man’s impressive furrows between hisFig 2. Gerrit Dou, Bust of a
Bearded Man, ca. 1642–45, oil on
panel, 18.4 x 14.9 cm, National
Gallery of Art, Washington,
Corcoran Collection (William A.
Clark Collection), 2014.136.32

eyes, the artist applied broad strokes of flesh tones and slightly thinnerstrokes of darker paint for the shadows in between the wrinkles. He
executed the forehead in a rich impasto of pinks and creams, culminatingin the protruding white highlights just below the hairline (fig 1). Unlike
these intact paint layers, the dark areas of the painting have suffered fromabrasion due to over-cleaning, particularly in the man’s clothing, the pupilsof his eyes, and along the peripheries of the background.[1] The abrasionin the mantle reveals the sketchy brushwork of an earlier paint stage,
probably the undermodeling.
This unpublished work was unknown until it appeared on the art market in2003 as attributed to Jan van Staveren (1613/14–69), a presumed studentof Gerrit Dou (1613–75).[2] It is, however, highly unlikely that Van
Staveren, with his smooth brushwork and somewhat wooden figures, isFig 3. Gerrit Dou, Schoolmaster,
1645, oil on panel, 27 x 19.4 cm,Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,inv. no. 33, © The FitzwilliamMuseum, Cambridge

the artist who made this loosely painted, vivacious bust.[3] The appearanceof the old man certainly differs from Van Staveren’s generally fantasticaltronies, in which the sitters’ features and expressions are more
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old ManPage 4 of 9generic.[4] The sitter instead resembles Gerrit Dou’s small, oval Bust of a
Bearded Man, dated ca. 1642–45, at the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. (formerly at the Corcoran Gallery of Art) (fig 2).[5] The
man in the latter painting in fact has the same strong nose, bushy grey
beard, long mustache, deep-set eyes, and pronounced brow, leaving no
doubt that the two paintings are of the same sitter.
The Washington, D.C. tronie is one of Dou’s most informal, freely executed
paintings, but it is still more refined than the Leiden Collection painting.
Unlike the latter work, with its thick, patchy strokes, Dou modeled theWashington

painting

usinghischaracteristic

short,individual

brushstrokes. The hair and beard of the man depicted in that painting wereFig 4. Gerrit Dou, Self-Portrait
Holding a Portrait of His Parentsand Brother, ca. 1649, oil on
panel, 27 x 23 cm, Herzog Anton
Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig

also rendered more carefully, and one can distinguish individual strands ofgrey curls.[6] There are, however, also some important similarities between
these works. The handling of the shaded sides of the two faces and theindication of the proper left ears are almost identical in both paintings;
moreover, alternating brown and cream hues were used to model thewrinkles in between the eyes. These correlations, together with the highquality of the present painting and the immediacy of the portrait, make it
plausible that Dou also painted this work. If so, Dou here appears to havecaptured the sitter in a quick, initial sketch, before executing the morethought out Washington painting, which would explain the slightdifferences in painting technique.[7]Fig 5. Detail of Gerrit Dou, SelfPortrait Holding a Portrait of His
Parents and Brother, ca. 1649, oilon panel, 27 x 23 cm, Herzog
Anton Ulrich-Museum,Braunschweig

The sitter depicted in both tronies can also be recognized in Dou’s
Schoolmaster, 1645, in which an old teacher, surrounded by the children
he is helping to read, looks directly at the viewer (fig 3).[8] The sternexpression and position of the man’s head are identical to those in theLeiden Collection panel. Dou may well have referred to the latter painting
when executing Schoolmaster, using it as a reference point for theteacher’s facial expression.
Traditionally, the model in the Washington painting has been identified as
Dou’s father, the glass painter Douwe Jansz (ca. 1584–1656).[9] The
appearance of his father is known from Dou’s Self-Portrait, ca. 1649, in
Braunschweig, in which the artist holds a small portrait of his parents andbrother (fig 4) (fig 5).[10] Although scholars have expressed some doubt
as to whether the sitter in the Washington painting is identical to that in thefamily portrait, the two men have similar facial features, including the© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old Man
Page 5 of 9

pronounced, straight nose, deep-set eyes, beard, and moustache.[11] Thesimilarities are even more pronounced between the sitters in the Leiden
Collection tronie and the Braunschweig painting, since both men face theviewer and wear similar collars. In the early 1640s, when the Leiden
Collection and Washington paintings were executed, Douwe Jansz would
have been in his late fifties or early sixties, an age that corresponds withthe age of the sitter in each work.[12] It seems appropriate to reconsider thetraditional identification of this sitter as Dou’s father, an identification thatwould help to explain the intimate character of the work. Dou may wellhave been able to render this figure so expressively because he knew thesitter so well.[13]At least two nearly identical versions of the painting exist. The first wasoffered for sale at a 1900 auction in Florence, with a mistaken attribution toFerdinand Bol (1616–80).[14] The second was in the Sir Charles TurnerCollection as by Thomas de Keyser (1596–1667) until 1908, after which
Abraham Bredius attributed it to Dou.[15] A third painting, formerly in theBaron van der Felz Collection, is a free copy after the Washington
painting, in which the sitter is facing left and directed at the viewer, with anexpression
panel.

[16]

strikingly

similartotheLeiden

Collection

Unfortunately, the locations of these paintings are unknown,

making any kind of stylistic comparison impossible. Judging from oldphotographs, however, these works appear to be flatter in execution andmore generic than the present work, which suggests that the Leiden
Collection panel is, indeed, the original.

-Ilona van Tuinen© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old Man
Page 6 of 9Endnotes
1. See the Technical Summary. Annette Rupprecht observes that in these dark passages,small spots of ground and bare wood have been exposed. It is not known when thisdamaging treatment took place.
2. Sale, Christie’s, London, 12 December 2003, no. 42 (unsold). On the relationship between
Jan van Staveren and Gerrit Dou, see Piet Bakker’s biography on the former in thiscatalogue.
3. See, for instance, the signed Jan van Staveren painting in this catalogue, Esther beforeAhasuerus, JvS-100, in which the paint is applied more evenly and meticulously and inwhich the pointed facial types differ greatly from the features of this man.
4. See for instance, Tronie of an Old Man in a Turban , attributed to Van Staveren (sale,Bonhams, London, 5 May 2006, no. 45).
5. Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,” The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) (Ph.D. diss., NewYork University, 1990), no. 39; eadem, “Bust of a Man,” in Ronni Baer, Gerrit Dou
1613–1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat.
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture Gallery; The Hague,Mauritshuis) (New Haven and London, 2000), 84–85, no. 11. Many thanks to Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Dominique Surh for mentioning the Washington painting in relation to thepainting discussed here.
6. For a discussion of Dou’s technique in this painting, see Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,” inRonni Baer, Gerrit Dou 1613–1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture
Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (New Haven and London, 2000), 84–85, no. 11.
7. I am indebted to Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. for the conversations we had about this work and forhis suggestion of an attribution to Dou. I would like to extend my thanks to Ronni Baer for
generously conveying her opinion on the attribution of this painting (e-mail correspondenceof July 2014 on file at the Leiden Collection, New York). Baer places the work in the circle ofDou. She notes that Bust of an Old Man comes closest in execution to Bust of an Old
Woman in Brodick Castle (oil on panel with an arched top, 11.5 x 8.7 cm, Isle of Arran[Scotland], Brodick Castle, National Trust for Scotland; see Ronni Baer, “Old Woman,”The
Paintings of Gerrit Dou [1613–1675] [Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1990], no. 32, where
Baer dates the work to ca. 1640), especially in the “broad sketchiness of the garment,” butthat the “scale of the brushwork is different,” especially since the Leiden Collection work
does not contain the “multi-hued, very small, individual brushstrokes.”
8. See Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,” in Ronni Baer,Gerrit Dou 1613–1675: Master Painter inthe Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old Man
Page 7 of 9

Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (New Haven andLondon, 2000), 84–85, no. 11.
9. For a discussion of this conception, initiated by John Smith in 1829 and supported byWilhelm Martin, see Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,” The Paintings of Gerrit Dou(1613–1675) (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1990), no. 39; Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,”in Ronni Baer, Gerrit Dou 1613–1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur
K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington, National Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture
Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (New Haven and London, 2000), 84–85, no. 11.
10. See Ronni Baer, “Self-Portrait,” The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) (Ph.D. diss., NewYork University, 1990), no. 56.
11. For scholars who have expressed their doubts about this identification, see Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr., “A Reappraisal of Gerard Dou’s Reputation,” in The William A. Clark
Collection: An Exhibition Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Clark Collection at theCorcoran Gallery of Art (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art)
(Washington D.C., 1978), 61; Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,” The Paintings of Gerrit Dou(1613–1675) (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1990), no. 39; eadem, “Bust of a Man,” inRonni Baer, Gerrit Dou 1613–1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture
Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (New Haven and London, 2000), 84–85, no. 11.
12. See Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,” The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) (Ph.D. diss.,New York University, 1990), no. 39, who suggests that the Braunschweig painting might wellhave been a commemorative painting, executed ca. 1649, after the deaths of Dou’s motherin 1647 and Dou’s brother in 1649. This would help to explain why Dou’s father, with his darkrather than grey hair, looks younger than his age in 1649, and younger than in the New Yorkand Washington paintings.
13. By comparison, when we see Dou’s drawn oval portrait of his mother, signed and dated
1638, her strong gaze, full of character and depth, is equally striking. See Gerrit Dou,Portraitof the Artist’s Mother, 1638, black chalk and ink with white highlights, 19.1 x 16.8 cm,Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. 22.579, published in Frits Lugt,Musée du Louvre: InventaireGénéral des Dessins des Ecoles du Nord, 3 vols. (Paris, 1929), 34, no. 248.
14. Bust of a Middle-Aged Man , dating, technique, and measurements unknown, formerly in thePrincess Marie Wassilievna Woronzow Collection (her sale, Florence, Sambon, 23 April
1900, no. 465). Albert Blankert rejected the attribution to Bol, see Albert Blankert,Ferdinand
Bol (1616–1680): Rembrandt’s Pupil (Doornspijk, 1982), no. R 158, under “RejectedAttributions.” There are a few very small differences between the present work and the panel
auctioned in Florence, such as the position of the man’s collar and the height of his head.
15. Bust of a Man, oil on oval panel, 18 x 14.5 cm, formerly in the Sir Charles Turner Collection(his sale, Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, 17 November 1908, no. 37). This painting, if the© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Bust of an Old ManPage 8 of 9

measurements are correct, is slightly smaller than the Leiden Collection work. Other
differences are the distance between the man’s head and the edge of the painting at top
right. According to a note on the RKD photo mount, this painting was last seen at art dealer
E. Burg Berger in Berlin in ca. 1943. The same mount records that Abraham Bredius thought
the painting to be by Dou.
16. Bust of a Man, technique and measurements unknown, formerly in the L. A. S. J. Baron vander Felz Collection in Brummen, the Netherlands. See also Ronni Baer, “Bust of a Man,”The
Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1990), no. 39, who
was the first to list this painting as a free copy after the former Corcoran work (now at theNational Gallery of Art).

Provenance(Sale, Christie’s, London, 12 December 2003, no. 42 (unsold); [The Weiss Gallery, London]).
From whom acquired by the present owner, 2004.

Versions
Versions and Copies

1. Formerly attributed to Ferdinand Bol, Bust of a Middle-Aged Man , dating, technique, andmeasurements unknown, formerly in the Princess Marie Wassilievna Woronzow Collection(her sale, Florence, Sambon, 23 April 1900, no. 465).

2. Formerly attributed to Thomas de Keijser, Bust of a Middle-Aged Man , oil on oval panel, 18x 14.5 cm, formerly in the Sir Charles Turner Collection (his sale, Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, 17
November 1908, no. 37).

Versions Notes

Technical Summary© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Bust of an Old Man
Page 9 of 9

The support, a single oval plank of vertically grained oak, is unthinned and uncradled and hashand tool marks and machine tool marks.[1] A horizontally oriented bevel cuts across the upper
midpoint and an oval shaped bevel follows the circumference of the remaining plank. There is a
black stencil, a black inscription, white chalk, blue tape, and white label remnants but no importstamp or panel maker’s mark along the panel reverse.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied. An additional light-colored fill materialappears to have been previously applied to the thickness of the entire outer edge of the oval
panel. Narrow crescents of the light-colored fill, which have been toned brown, are present along
the thickness of the left and right panel edges. The upper and lower edges have been trimmed,
the fill material removed, and the bare wood exposed.
The paint along the background and garment is fairly thin, while a halo of opaque denser paintsurrounds the figure’s head. The flesh tones and horizontal brush strokes that create the creasesof the brow, mustache, and white collar have been applied with slightly raised brushwork.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at
750–1000 nanometers or in the X-radiograph.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2003 and remains
in a fair state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination only.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection