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“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
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“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Frans van Mieris(Leiden 1635 – 1681 Leiden)

1668
oil on oval panel
11.3 x 8.2 cm
signed and dated in dark paint along background,lower right quadrant: “F van Mieris . 1668”
FM-108How to cite
Buvelot, Quentin. ““Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited byArthur 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.

Frans van Mieris the Elder produced numerous self-portraits and used himself as a

Comparative Figures[1]

model in many of his genre scenes. In no less than a quarter of his painted oeuvre,
which numbers some 120 paintings, we encounter the faces of Van Mieris and hiswife, Cunera van der Cock. In some cases, Van Mieris created a hybrid form, as inpendants 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 and his double chin, as well as his characteristic moustache andcurly hair.[3] Situated before a plain background, Van Mieris painted himself bustlength with 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 that largely
covers a shiny metal gorget, which contemporary viewers would have understood ashaving a military function.[4] On the painter’s cap is a plume that is the same color as
his brown hair. It is possible that Van Mieris, as he often did, originally paired thisportrait with one of his wife; the earliest of such pendants date around 1657–58.[5] HeFig 1. Frans van Mieris theElder, Self-Portrait, 1661, oil on panel(oval), 11.2 x 8.4 cm, private
collection

usually painted such pendant portraits on oval panels of approximately the same size
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“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 3 of 7as 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 self-portraits 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 ofwhom also came from Leiden.[7] In his youth, Rembrandt had produced a series ofetchings that arose from intense observations of his own physiognomy and theconstant changes in his facial expression. These are essentially studies of “affects” orpassions, what we would call emotions. This tradition cannot be separated fromcertain passages in art-theoretical writings. Rembrandt’s pupil Samuel van
Hoogstraten wrote about the subject in his Inleyding tot de hooge schoole derschilderkonst (Introduction to the Advanced School of Painting), advising artists whostudied themselves in the mirror “to transform themselves into actors,” and that inFig 2. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
Portrait of Cunera van der Cock, thePainter’s Wife, 1662, oil on panel(oval), 11.2 x 8.4 cm, private
collection

acting out the “passions” they should endeavor “to be player and spectator at the sametime.”[8]Van Mieris conceived this small painting as a tronie, a type of picture in which
painters represented a character type or a particular facial expression, in this case,surprise. In traditional portraits, sitters were never depicted smiling.[9] Moreover, in
his “official” self-portraits, Van Mieris always presented himself as a true gentleman,as can be inferred from a painting of 1667 (fig 3).[10] This type of small “pseudo” selfportrait was probably intended as a comic image, which at the same time constituted afine example of Van Mieris’s exquisite technique. That paintings of this kind were notinterpreted as “ordinary” portraits is clear from descriptions in the inventory of theLeiden collector Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius (see FM-104). This document made aclear distinction between the portraits and tronies of Van Mieris in the collection,even though the painter and his wife were recognized in each.[11]Fig 3. Frans van Mieris the Elder, SelfPortrait as a Painter, 1667, oil onpanel, 17.7 x 13.3 cm, Polesden
Lacey, Surrey, The National Trust- Quentin Buvelot, 2017

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“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 4 of 7Endnotes
1. On Van Mieris’s numerous self-portraits, see Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2vols. (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 wasmentioned first in Quentin Buvelot, ed., Frans van Mieris 1635–1681 (Exh. cat. The Hague,
Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (New Haven, 2005), 238, no. 125 (wronglydated “1661”). Two seals (of a collector?) on the back of the panel have yet to be identified. For olddescriptions 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 andQuentin 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; seeOtto 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 in SeventeenthCentury 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.
9. See Ernst de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de nederlandse kunst van dezeventiende 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 a Draughtsman,”
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© 2024 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 5 of 7van 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 [Johnnyvan Haeften, Ltd., London, 2006]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and TheirContemporaries,” 12 October 2014–4 January 2015; Birmingham Museum of Art, 1 February–26 April
2015, no. 23 [lent by the present owner].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden
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 [lent by the presentowner].
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 ofThe 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 presentowner].

References© 2024 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 6 of 7Buvelot, Quentin, Otto Naumann, and Eddy de Jongh. Frans van Mieris 1635–1681. Edited by 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 of Art. Raleigh,2014, 135-137, no. 23.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “‘Self-Portrait’ with a Plumed Beret.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpiecesfrom 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 fromThe 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 of Rembrandt
and Vermeer: Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 17; 29. Translated byDaria 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 and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 140–41; 239, no. 37. Translated byDaria 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 and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 140–41; 239, no. 37. Translated byDaria 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 Golden Age.
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.]

Versions
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© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
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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 was applied 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. The panel 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 been appliedsmoothly in thin layers of transparent glazing, light over dark. A black horizontal line of raised 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 in2007 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 and panel reverse
images by Ian Tyers. According to Tyers, the panel does not have enough rings for dendrochronology.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection