Portrait of a Man with a Hat
Gerrit Dou(Leiden 1613 – 1675 Leiden)

ca. 1635
oil on panel
37.5 x 31 cm
GD-100© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
Rahusen, Henriette. “Portrait of a Man with a Hat” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited
by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/portrait-of-a-man-with-ahat/ (archived May 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

In this bust-length portrait, an earnest young man, who wears a heavy black

Comparative Figures

cloak and has just taken off his right glove, turns toward the viewer. This
subtle indication of movement energizes the triangular form of the sitter’sbody. Within a painted oval surround, the intense black of the man’s widebrimmed hat and the folds of his white, pleated collar dramatically frame hispale face and wispy, reddish-brown hair. Despite his rather refined features,the man’s expression is slightly unsettling, likely due to the fact that his eyes
do not seem to focus.[1]Gerrit Dou tackled portraiture only in the first fifteen or so years of hiscareer.[2] A single, oft-repeated, eye-witness account of the artist’s working
methods has perhaps skewed our impression of the limitations of Dou’sabilities as a portraitist: according to Joachim von Sandrart, who visited
Dou’s studio in 1639, the artist’s meticulous and thus very time-consuming
manner of painting not only diminished the pool of potential patrons willing toFig 1. Rembrandt van Rijn, SelfPortrait, c. 1630, oil on panel, 70 x
57 cm, Walker Art Gallery,Liverpool, inv. no.
WAG1011, Courtesy National
Museums Liverpool

endure multiple lengthy sittings, but also caused sitters’ lively faces to morph
into expressions of tedium and annoyance.[3] Van Sandrart’s comments mayhelp explain the general lack of commissioned portraits from Dou’s later
years, but rarely do Dou’s portraits convey “tedium and annoyance.”
Indeed, the artist’s careful observations of the physiognomy andexpressions of his sitters are always engaging and compelling, as, forexample, with this young man’s slightly quizzical expression. Dou’sportraits, however, seldom reveal much about the sitter’s interests andoccupation, since he generally refrained from including personal attributes© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Man with a Hat
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In the middle of the nineteenth century, this portrait was variously attributed
to a number of artists, including Frans Hals (1582/83–1666) and Thomas deKeyser (1596–1667).[4] In 1888, Wilhelm Bode correctly attributed the portrait
to Dou and used the man’s costume to date the painting circa 1634–35.[5]Other scholars, including Willem Martin and Cornelis Hofstede de Groot in
the early twentieth century and, more recently, Werner Sumowski and Ronni
Baer, have concurred with this attribution and date.[6]This work appears to be the earliest surviving portrait by the Leiden master,
created just a few years after Dou completed his studies with Rembrandt vanRijn (1606–69).[7] It is therefore not surprising that several elements in thisportrait echo Rembrandt’s early portraits. Even though the painted oval
surroundwasacommon

framingfeature

atthetime,Fig 2. Rembrandt van Rijn, Portraitof Jacob de Gheyn III, 1632, oil onpanel, 29.9 x 24.9 cm, Dulwich
Picture Gallery, London, inv. no.
DPG99, By Permission of theTrustees of Dulwich Picture
Gallery

Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait of 1630–31 (fig 1) likely provided Dou with animmediate example of this pictorial device. Rembrandt’s Portrait of Jacob deGheyn III, 1632 (fig 2), also demonstrated to Dou how to place a figure
against a neutral background while focusing light on the face and creating
halo effects around the sitter’s head.[8] The multilayered “falling ruff” collar ischaracteristic of collar styles in the early to mid-1630s, a transitional phasebetween the elaborate pleated and starched ruff collars worn in earlier
decades and the simple flat damask ones that soon after would come into
fashion.[9] Rembrandt wears the same type of substantial lace collar in hisSelf-Portrait as a Burger, 1632 (fig 3).[10]- Henriette Rahusen, 2017

Fig 3. Rembrandt van Rijn, SelfPortrait as a Burger, 1632, oil onpanel, 64.4 x 47.6 cm, The BurrellCollection, Glasgow, inv.nr.
35/600, © CSG CIC Glasgow
Museums and Libraries
Collections© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Man with a Hat
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1. It is possible that the unidentified sitter had a divergent or outward squint (exotropicstrabismus) of his left eye.
2. 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, 2000), 34.
3. 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, 2000), 34–35 and note 94. Joachim vonSandrart, Joachim von Sandrarts Academie der Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste von 1675:
Leben der berühmten Maler, Bildhauer und Baumeister, ed. Arthur R. Peltzer (Nuremburg,1675–79, reprinted in Munchen, 1925), 195–96.
4. Theophile Bürger first associated the portrait with Gerrit Dou when it was in the collection ofLothar Franz Von Schönborn in Pommersfelden. He attributed the painting to “Ecole de G.
Dou (?).” See Hôtel Drouot, Galerie de Pommersfelden: Catalogue de la collection detableaux anciens du château de Pommersfelden à M. le comte de Schönborn (Paris, 1867),
17, no. 25 (Portrait de jeune homme). According to the notes, the portrait had been listed asby Frans Hals in a catalogue (either Drouot or Pommersfelden) of 1857 as no. 108. A
handwritten notation next to the 1867 catalogue entry indicates the hammer price was 610
French francs. For this information, see Wilhelm von Bode, Die Grossherzogliche GemäldeGalerie zu Oldenburg (Vienna, 1888), 35 and 40. Click here for an online version of the sales
catalogue of 1867.
5. Wilhelm von Bode, Die Grossherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie zu Oldenburg (Vienna, 1888), 35and 40. According to Bode, the portrait entered the Oldenburg Gallery as a work by Thomasde Keyser. Bode rejected that attribution in favor of Dou, noting that it has “all thecharacteristic artistic components of a work by Gerard Dou.” The 1888 catalogue includes areproduction of L. Kuhn’s print after the portrait. Click here for the online text.
6. Wilhelm Martin, Gerard Dou, trans. Clara Bell (London, 1902), 132, no. 147. Cornelis
Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Paintersof the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, ed. and trans. Edward G.
Hawke, 1: 450–51, no. 339, as by Dou, 8 vols. (London, 1907–28), originally published asBeschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28).
7. Ronni Baer, “The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675),” 3 vols. (PhD diss., New YorkUniversity, 1990), 3: no. 13. Fourteen-year-old Gerrit Dou entered the studio of Rembrandt on© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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14 February 1628 and stayed with him until Rembrandt’s departure for Amsterdam in 1631.
8. Bruyn, Josua, et al. A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Vol. 2: 1631–1634. Stichting
Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1986), 219–22, no. A56 (DulwichPicture Gallery, London, inv. 99).
9. The disappearance of the millstone or ruff collars occurs around the year 1630. Members of
the older generation nevertheless continued to wear variations of the millstone collars. See,for example, Govaert Flinck’s The Governors of the Kloveniersdoelen of 1642 (Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam), in which three of the five men portrayed wear ruff collars and the two youngest
sport the new flat collar.
10. Bruyn, Josua, et al. A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings. Vol. 2: 1631–1634. Stichting
Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague, 1986), no. A 58.

ProvenanceCount of Schönborn, Schloss Weissenstein, Pommersfelden, Germany, by 1719, as by Frans
Hals; (his sale, Pommersfelden Collection, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 17–18 May 1867, no. 25 [toOldenburg], as by school of Dou).
Oldenburg Gallery, Oldenburg, Germany [as by Thomas de Keyser from 1867 until 1888,
when attributed to Dou].
[Zacharias Max Hackenbroch (1884–1937), Frankfurt am Main, by 1924].
Henry Karl Janssen (1866–1948), Wyomissing, Pennsylvania; by descent to Helen JanssenWetzel, Spring Township, Pennsylvania (her sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 9 October 1980, no.
7).
Private collection, New York; (sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 7 June 1984, no. 75; sale,Sotheby’s, London, 2 July 1986, no. 157 [Johnny van Haeften Ltd., London, by 1992]).
Private collection, Germany [Salomon Lilian B. V., Amsterdam, 2004].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2004.

Exhibition History
Leiden, Museum de Lakenhal, “Gerrit Dou: The Leiden Collection from New York,” 9March–31 August 2014 [lent by the present owner].
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, August 2015–August© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Man with a Hat
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References
Katalog der Gra?flich von Scho?nborn’schen Bilder-Gallerie zu Pommersfelden. Würzburg,
1857, 17, no. 108, as by Frans Hals.
Mündler, Otto. Catalogue de Tableaux [de la galerie des Cte de Scho?nborn a?
Pommersfelden]. [Paris], 1861, 5, no. 108, as by “Frank” Hals.
Catalogue de la collection de Tablaeux Anciens des e?coles Hollandaise, Flamande etAllemande provenant du Chateau de Pommersfelden a? M. le Comte de Scho?nborn. Paris,
1867, 17, no. 25, as by school of Gerrit Dou.
Von Alten, Friedrich. Verzeichniss der Gema?lde in der Grossherzoglichen Sammlung zu
Oldenburg Mit einem Anhange der auf den Gema?lden befindlichen Monogramme,Bezeichnungen u. Inschriften. Oldenburg, 1871, 81, no. 151, as by Thomas de Keyser.
Von Bode, Wilhelm. Der Grossherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie zu Oldenburg. Vienna, 1888, 35,n.p. [“Bildniss Eines Jungen Mannes”].
Von Alten, Friedrich von. Verzeichniss der Gemälde, Gypse und Bronzen in derGrossherzoglichen Sammlung zu Oldenburg. Oldenburg, 1890, 83–84, no. 175.
Martin, Wilhelm. “Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het
schildersleven van zijn tijd.” PhD diss. Universiteit Leiden, 1901. 205, no. 151.
Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou. Translated from Dutch by Clara Bell. London, 1902, 132, no.
147.
Kurzes Verzeichnis der Gema?lde, Gips-Abgu?sse und Bronze-Nachbildungen derGrossherzoglichen Sammlung im Augusteum zu Oldenburg. Oldenburg, 1902, 25, no. 175.
Bredius, Abraham, and Frederik Schmidt-Degener. Die Grossherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie
im Augusteum zu Oldenburg. Oldenburg, 1906, 14.
Von Wurzbach, Alfred. Niederla?ndisches Ku?nstler-Lexikon: Auf Grund ArchivalischerForschungen Bearbeitet. 3 vols. Vienna and Leipzig, 1906–11, 1: 418.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translatedby Edward G. Hawke1:450–51, no. 339. 8 vols. London, 1907–28. Originally published asBeschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou, sa Vie et son Oeuvre. Étude sur la peinture hollandaise et lesmarchands au dix-septième siècle. Paris, 1911, 174, no. 72.
Martin,Wilhelm.

GerardDou,desMeistersGemälde.

KlassikerderKunstin© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Man with a Hat
Page 7 of 8Gesamtausgaben 24. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1913, 33.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden. 6 vols. Landau andPfalz, 1983–94, 6:3838, no. 2253.
Baer, Ronni. “The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675)”. 3 vols. PhD diss. New York
University, 1990, cat. nos. 13.1–13.3.
Baer, Ronni. “Gerrit Dou: Portrait of a Young Man in a Painted Oval.” In Dutch and Flemish
Old Master Paintings. Sales cat. Johnny van Haeften Ltd., London, 1992, no. 10.
Surh, Dominique, Ilona van Tuinen, and John Twilley. “Insights from Technical Analysis on aGroup of Paintings by Gerrit Dou in the Leiden Collection.” JHNA 6, no.1 (Winter 2014): 1, 3,30, no. 3a and 3b. DOI:10.5092/jhna.2014.6.1.3.
Dohe, Sebastian, Malve Anna Falk, Rainer Stamm. Die Gemäldegalerie Oldenburg: Eine
europäische Altemeistersammlung. Petersberg, 2018, 286, cat. no. 175.

VersionsEngraved

1. L. Kühn, after Dou, Bildniss Eines Jungen Mannes, engraving. In Wilhelm von Bode, Dergrossherzogliche Gemälde-Galerie zu Oldenburg (Vienna, 1888).

Technical Summary
The painting is executed on a rectangular panel made from a single plank of vertically grainedoak. The plank was obtained from a tree of eastern Baltic origin, with a fell date of 1617 and a
projected use date of 1617–49.[1] The back of the panel is beveled on the top and left edges, asviewed from the reverse. A 0.8-cm-wide, unpainted wooden shim with vertical grain has been
added to the right edge with six metal brads. The panel exhibits both a convex and a concave
warp in the horizontal direction, forming an S-shape along the top and bottom edges. It also has avertical convex warp on the left side. The right side remains in plane. There are no wax seals orpanel maker’s marks, but there is a round, illegible import stamp on the reverse.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied with vertical brushstrokes. It extends to,
but not over, the edges of the panel. The artist applied a thin, transparent, brown imprimatura overthe ground. The portrait was executed in a light-colored, feigned oval, but the paint covers arectangular area with black spandrels around the oval. The paint does not extend to the paneledges. A 0.5-cm border of imprimatura remains on the top, left, and bottom edges. The border is
not present on the right edge, but traces of the imprimatura along this edge suggest that it once
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had a similar border, which has been trimmed and replaced by the wooden shim.
The portrait is thinly painted with relatively little planning, as evidenced by the numerous artist’schanges revealed by infrared reflectography and X-radiography. The sitter’s white ruff waswidened; his black cloak originally had a black collar that extended beyond the sleeves; his proper
right eyebrow was more angular; his nose was straighter; and the proper left profile of his face is
now more defined in the area where the chin meets the cheek. In addition, no reserve was left forthe sitter’s gloves. In contrast to these changes, the X-radiographs show a sharp, thin, white line
around the face and hat of the sitter, which probably corresponds to the planning stage. Six orseven fingerprints are visible in the lower left corner. Unfortunately, the paint in this area is not
original, so the fingerprints are unlikely to belong to the artist.[2]The painting is in good condition. There are numerous small, subtle areas of inpainting that coverabrasion along the wood grain.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Ian Tyers dendochronological report, November 2010.
2. John Twilley scientific examination report, 31 January 2013.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection