© 2020 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
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“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret

1668
oil on oval panel
11.3 x 8.2 cm
signed and dated in dark paint along
background, lower right quadrant: “F vanMieris . 1668”
FM-108Frans van Mieris(Leiden 1635 – 1681 Leiden)

How to cite
Buvelot, Quentin. ““Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed.
Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/self-portrait-witha-plumed-beret/ (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.

Frans van Mieris the Elder produced numerous self-portraits and used[1]

himself as a model in many of his genre scenes.

Comparative Figures

In no less than a quarterof his painted oeuvre, which numbers some 120 paintings, we encounter thefaces of Van Mieris and his wife, Cunera van der Cock. In some cases, Van
Mieris created a hybrid form, as in pendants from 1662 in which the artist
depicted himself holding a pipe and his wife pulling the ear of a little dog.[2] In
this little painting, dated 1668, we can recognize the painter’s features andhis double chin, as well as his characteristic moustache and curly hair.[3]Situated before a plain background, Van Mieris painted himself bust-lengthwith a smile on his face, as though surprised at seeing the viewer. Woundaround his neck and partly draped over his shoulder is a patterned scarf thatlargely covers a shiny metal gorget, which contemporary viewers would have[4]

understood as having a military function.

On the painter’s cap is a plumeFig 1. Frans van Mieris theElder, Self-Portrait, 1661, oil on
panel (oval), 11.2 x 8.4 cm, privatecollection© 2020 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
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that is the same color as his brown hair. It is possible that Van Mieris, as heoften did, originally paired this portrait with one of his wife; the earliest ofsuch pendants date around 1657–58.[5] He usually painted such pendant
portraits on oval panels of approximately the same size as the portrait
discussed here, as in pendants dated 1661 (fig 1) and (fig 2).[6]The fact that Van Mieris produced such an unusually large number of selfportraits is no doubt directly associated with his fame. This artist probably
turned to the mirror for artistic purposes more frequently than any other artist
in the Republic, including his teacher, Gerrit Dou (1613–75), and Rembrandt
van Rijn (1606–69), both of whom also came from Leiden.[7] In his youth,
Rembrandt had produced a series of etchings that arose from intense
observations of his own physiognomy and the constant changes in his facialexpression. These are essentially studies of “affects” or passions, what wewould call emotions. This tradition cannot be separated from certain

Fig 2. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
Portrait of Cunera van der Cock,the Painter’s Wife, 1662, oil on
panel (oval), 11.2 x 8.4 cm, private
collection

passages in art-theoretical writings. Rembrandt’s pupil Samuel vanHoogstraten wrote about the subject in his Inleyding tot de hooge schoole
der schilderkonst (Introduction to the Advanced School of Painting), advising
artists who studied themselves in the mirror “to transform themselves intoactors,” and that in acting out the “passions” they should endeavor “to beplayer and spectator at the same time.”[8]Van Mieris conceived this small painting as a tronie, a type of picture inwhich painters represented a character type or a particular facial expression,in this case, surprise. In traditional portraits, sitters were never depictedsmiling.[9] Moreover, in his “official” self-portraits, Van Mieris always
presented himself as a true gentleman, as can be inferred from a painting of1667 (fig 3).[10] This type of small “pseudo” self-portrait was probably
intended as a comic image, which at the same time constituted a fineFig 3. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1667, oilon panel, 17.7 x 13.3 cm,
Polesden Lacey, Surrey, TheNational Trust

example of Van Mieris’s exquisite technique. That paintings of this kind werenot interpreted as “ordinary” portraits is clear from descriptions in theinventory of the Leiden collector Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius (see FM-104).
This document made a clear distinction between the portraits and tronies ofVan Mieris in the collection, even though the painter and his wife wererecognized in each.[11]- Quentin Buvelot, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
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1. On Van Mieris’s numerous self-portraits, see Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681)
the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:125–34.
2. Worcester Art Museum; Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols.
(Doornspijk, 1981), 2:51–53, nos. 43–44; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681(Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven,2005), 57, figs. 15–16.
3. The painting was not yet listed in Naumann’s authoritative monograph on the artist (1981)
and was mentioned first in Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. TheHague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005), 238, no.
125 (wrongly dated “1661”). Two seals (of a collector?) on the back of the panel have yet tobe identified. For old descriptions of unidentified self-portraits by Van Mieris, see Otto
Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:214–17.
4. The gorget was a favorite attribute in Rembrandt’s self-portraits and tronies; see Christopher
White and Quentin Buvelot, eds, Rembrandt by Himself (Exh. cat. London, National Gallery;
The Hague, Mauritshuis) (Zwolle,1999), 100, 108, 117.
5. These are in the National Gallery, London, and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie,Berlin; see Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk,1981), 2:32–33, nos. 29–30; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat.
The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005),
114–15, no. 15 and fig. 15a.
6. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2:49,nos. 38–39; Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague,Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005), 152–53, nos.
28–29. In 1662 Van Mieris would paint another set of pendant portraits of himself and his wife
(Alte Pinakothek, Munich); see Naumann 1981, 2:50–51, nos. 41–42; Buvelot 2005, 152, figs.
28a–b.
7. On Rembrandt’s self-portraits, see H. Perry Chapman, Rembrandt’s Self-Portraits: A Study inSeventeenth-Century Identity (Princeton, 1990); Christopher White and Quentin Buvelot, eds,
Rembrandt by Himself (Exh. cat. London, National Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (Zwolle,1999).
8. Samuel van Hoogstraten, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst (Rotterdam,1678), 109–10; Ernst van de Wetering in Christopher White and Quentin Buvelot, eds,
Rembrandt by Himself (Exh. cat. London, National Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis)(Zwolle,1999), 21.
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9. See Ernst 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), 15, 18.
10. For Van Mieris’s “official” self-portraits, see see Otto Naumann, “Frans van Mieris as aDraughtsman,” Master Drawings 16, no. 1 (1978): no. 13 (drawing), and Otto Naumann,Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 2: nos. 66, 110, 111(paintings); cf. Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague,Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005), 21, fig. 9, and no.
39 and fig. 39b.
11. Eric Jan Sluijter et al., Leidse fijnschilders: Van Gerrit Dou tot Frans van Mieris de Jonge,1630–1760 (Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal) (Zwolle, 1988), 133.

Provenance(Sale, Christie’s, London, 7 April 1966, no. 122, withdrawn).
Private collection, Paris (sale, Xavier de la Perraudière, Saumur, 16 December 2006, no. 105[Johnny van Haeften, Ltd., London, 2006]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, andTheir Contemporaries,” 12 October 2014–4 January 2015; Birmingham Museum of Art, 1February–26 April 2015, no. 23 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from TheLeiden Collection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].
© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre,” 14 February–18 May
2019 [lent by the present owner].

ReferencesBuvelot, Quentin, Otto Naumann, and Eddy de Jongh. Frans van Mieris 1635–1681. Editedby Quentin Buvelot, 238, no. 125. Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington, National
Gallery of Art. Zwolle, 2005. (Erroneously dated “1661”).
Weller, Dennis P. Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Their Contemporaries.
Exh. cat. Raleigh, N.C., North Carolina Museum of Art; Birmingham, Birmingham Museum ofArt. Raleigh, 2014, 135-137, no. 23.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “‘Self-Portrait’ with a Plumed Beret.” In Rembrandt and His Time:Masterpieces from the Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara-Yeager Crasselt, 98; 181, no. 39.
Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund.
Shanghai, 2017, 115.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “The Leiden Collection and the Dutch Golden Age.” In The Age ofRembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina
Lyubimova, 17; 29. Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina, Exh. cat. Moscow, ThePushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow,2018.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “‘Self-Portrait’ with a Plumed Beret.” In The Age of Rembrandt andVermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 140–41; 239,
no. 37. 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.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “‘Self-Portrait’ with a Plumed Beret.” In The Age of Rembrandt andVermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 140–41; 239,no. 37. 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.
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch GoldenAge. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu
Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi. London, 2019, 54, 118, no. 47. [Exhibition catalogue also
published in French and Arabic.]© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 7 of 7Versions
Versions and Copies

1. Panel, 11 x 8.5 cm, K. H. Schulthess, Bazel, 1930; later J. Herscher, Bazel, 1963.

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertically grained, oval-shaped oak, has no bevels.[1] The unthinned
and uncradled panel has four semicircular incised lines that mirror its oval shape and two
differently sized red wax collection seals stamped with different images. A dark red coating wasapplied to the entire panel reverse sometime after the incised lines were made and the smaller
upper wax seal was attached. The larger lower wax seal was attached to this red coating. Thepanel has no import stamps, labels, stencils, panel maker’s marks or machine tool marks.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied followed by paint, which has beenapplied smoothly in thin layers of transparent glazing, light over dark. A black horizontal line ofraised paint below the figure’s teeth is from a past restoration.
The painting is signed and dated in dark paint in the background to the right of the figure.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at
780–1000 nanometers or in the X-radiograph.
The painting, which was cleaned and restored prior to its acquisition, underwent minor surface
treatment in 2007 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 does not have enoughrings for dendrochronology.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection