Study of a Man with Curly Hair
School of Rembrandt van Rijn

ca. 1643-45
oil on panel
16.6 x 13.8 cm
RR-123© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
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How to cite
De Witt, David. “Study of a Man with Curly Hair” (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.

This small panel depicts the bust of an old man with a beard. His torso faces theComparative Figures

viewer but his head turns to the right, so that his face appears in three-quarter view.
The light falling from the left accentuates the left cheek and ear, while the right sideof his face and the eyes fall nearly completely in shadow. The man’s curly hair istousled and his short beard is unkempt. Particularly noticeable is his large, roundnose, which gives the man a “rough” aspect, indicating that he comes from a low
social background. The feature of the knollnase (bulbous nose) has been clarified byWayne Franits in light of contemporary physiognomic theories. Especially popularwere the so-called neusboeken (nose books) that illustrated various nasal forms
accompanied by satiric commentary. A large, bulbous nose, for example, wasassociated with the vices of drunkenness and smoking, and was considered suitable

Fig 1. Workshop of Rembrandt vanRijn, possibly Gerrit Dou and Govaert
Flinck, Parable of the Hidden
Treasure, ca. 1630, Szépmüsézeti
Múzeum, Budapest, inv. 342

for figures from the lower social orders.[1] Likewise, the loose brushwork in which
this nearly monochromatic brownish image is painted supports this impression: theman’s whole face appears to be painted in rapid strokes of the brush, whichemphasize his wrinkles as well as his lack of grooming.
As with other paintings in The Leiden Collection (RR-101, RR-109, RR-120), thistronie is based on a study from life.[2] In contrast, for example, to Study of a Woman
in a White Cap (RR-101), which should be understood primarily as a study of light,
this work presents a specific facial type—a rough figure—that could be used in alarger composition. A total of four versions of this study are known, all likely after a
now-lost original by Rembrandt of around 1640.[3] The prototype probably remainedin Rembrandt’s studio and was copied by assistants and pupils as an exercise, or used
as a model for a figure in their own paintings. The same head appears, for example, inParable of the Hidden Treasure in Budapest, executed by an unknown follower, withFig 2. Rembrandt School, TheBeheading of John the Baptist, ca.
1645, oil on canvas, 149 × 121 cm,Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. SKA-91© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Man with Curly HairPage 3 of 5

still-life details added in a much finer hand, perhaps that of Gerrit Dou (1613–75)(fig 1).[4] The farmer in this scene has the same type of face with the strikingly large
nose, although he appears in mirror image and is rendered with a smoother handlingof paint. The same figural type also appears in The Beheading of John the Baptist in
the Rijksmuseum (fig 2). In both cases, Rembrandt’s prototype served as a model fora figure of low social standing—the farmer in the depiction of the parable and theexecutioner in the Rijksmuseum painting, still holding his sword.
It is not possible to date the present study with any precision, althoughdendrochronological analysis by Ian Tyers has demonstrated that the tree from which
the panel was taken was felled around 1636, which indicates an earliest date of use
around 1643.[5]- David de Witt, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
Page 4 of 5Endnotes
1. Wayne Franits, Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution (NewHaven, 2004), 43.
2. Ernst van de Wetering “Rembrandt’s Oil Studies: New Light on an Old Problem,” in Rembrandt: Questof a Genius, ed. Bob van den Boogert (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis; Berlin,Gemäldegalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) (Zwolle, 2006), 178–207.
3. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, ca. 1645, oil on panel, 19.5 × 15.5 cm, National Gallery, Oslo, inv.
no. 1363, formerly Chr. Langaard collection; Rembrandt School, Head of an Old Man, oil on panel,
20.9 × 17.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection, no. 476; Rembrandt School,
Study of a Head, oil on panel, 21.5 × 18.5 cm, present location unknown, formerly Matsukata
Collection, Tokyo; Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, oil on panel, 19.5 × 16.3 cm, present location
unknown, formerly with art dealer Landry, Paris, 1952.
4. The museum attributes the work to Dou and, improbably, Rembrandt. Its landscape background drawsheavily on the style of Hercules Seghers (1589/90–1633/38), whose work was owned by Rembrandt andwould have been present in his studio. The theme is drawn from Matthew 13:44, and from the Gnostic
Gospel of Thomas 109.
5. Ian Tyers, dendrochronology report, November 2010; this source of oak became unavailable after 1650.

Provenance(Sale, Tajan, Paris, 15 December 2008, no. 56 [Salomon Lilian B. V., Amsterdam, 2008]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

VersionsVersions and Copies
1. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, ca. 1645, oil on panel, 19.5 x 15.5 cm, National Gallery, Oslo, inv.
no. 1363; formerly Chr. Langaard collection.

2. Rembrandt School, Head of an Old Man, oil on panel, 20.9 x 17.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art,John G. Johnson Collection, no. 476.

3. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, oil on panel, 21.5 x 18.5 cm, present location unknown, formerly© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
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Matsukata Collection, Tokyo.

4. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, oil on panel, 19.5 x 16.3 cm, present location unknown, formerly
with art dealer Landry, Paris, 1952.

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertical, straight-grained, rectangular Eastern Baltic oak derived from a tree
felled after 1636, has bevels along all four sides.[1] The panel is unthinned and uncradled, and has machine
tool marks along the left and right bevels. The panel reverse has two paper label remnants, paper tape, and anumerical inscription, but no wax seals, import stamps, stencils or panel maker’s marks.
A light-colored ground has been extremely thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been applied as a thinglaze along the background, which allows the light underlayer to show through. Only the application of thedarkest paint, most noticeably the eyes and nostrils but also the beard and base of the neck, is visible asslightly raised, rounded brushwork. Very few of the flesh tones and facial features are visible as radioopaque forms in the X-radiograph, due either to the pigments employed or the X-radiograph exposure. Eitherway, the extreme thinness is noteworthy.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. No compositionalchanges are revealed in the images, in the X-radiograph, or as pentimenti. Further investigation atwavelengths that penetrate further into the infrared range may be useful.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2009 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on Ian Tyers’s 2010 dendrochronology report.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection