Traveler at Rest

ca. 1657

Frans van Mieris(Leiden 1635 – 1681 Leiden)

oil on copper
21.6 x 17.8 cm
signed, lower right: “F. van Mieris”
FM-122Currently on view at: The National Museum ofChina, Beijing© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Traveler at Rest
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How To Cite
Buvelot, Quentin. "Traveler at Rest." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.
New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
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Traveler at Rest
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Traveler at Rest, datable to about 1657, is one of Frans van Mieris’s[1]earliest masterpieces.

Comparative Figures

Beautifully executed and wonderfully preserved,

this painting demonstrates why this Leiden master was famous for his
ability to render light effects and the varied textures of materials. Van
Mieris has here depicted a young, red-haired man sitting in the shade ofancient ruins partly overgrown with vegetation and gazing straight at theviewer. In his lap lies a rather large hat, and in his left hand he holds a
flask with a wicker cover. Judging from the bag lying beside him, hiswalking stick, sagging stocking and the torn seam at his shoulder, the man
has been traveling and has stopped in a cool spot to refresh himself. The
landscape beyond the ruin’s arched opening is reminiscent of the sundrenched images of the Dutch Italianates, whose paintings must have
served as Van Mieris’s source of inspiration, since he never traveled to
Italy.[2]Fig 1. Frans van Mieris the Elder,
The Painter in His Studio, ca.
1657, oil on panel, 63.9 x 46.8
cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen,Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister, 1751

Van Mieris painted a similar composition, but in reverse, on the easel inthe interior of his The Painter in His Studio of about 1657 in the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (fig 1). In that scene, a wealthy visitor or
connoisseur studies the painting closely under the artist’s watchful eye.
There, too, the painting on the easel features a man with a walking stickseated in a relaxed manner under the arched vault of an antique ruin(fig2). He has removed a sock and a shoe to cool off and rest after his travels.
In much the same manner, the sagging stocking in the Leiden Collection
painting indicates that the traveler is at rest.

[3]

Van Mieris emphasizes thetraveler’s bared knee by having the young man rest his arm on it, a pose
also seen in a depiction of a smoking man by Simon Kick (1603–52) and in
Carel Fabritius’s (1622–54) Sentry from 1654 (Schwerin, Staatliches

Fig 2. Detail of Frans van Mieris
the Elder, The Painter in His
Studio, ca. 1657, oil on panel,
63.9 x 46.8 cm, Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen, Dresden,
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister,
1751

Museum).[4] In each of these instances this motif indicates that the man is
resting his tired feet.[5]The clothing of the man depicted in Traveler at Rest denotes a certain
affluence, and he may very well have been a Dutchman who went to Italy
and wanted to have his trip commemorated once he had returned to
Leiden. The man’s face, which has all the striking features of an actual
portrait, closely resembles that of the visitor in Van Mieris’s Dresden
painting, who seems to have come to the artist’s studio to see how he has
been represented. The tattered look, the direct gaze, and the Italianate
setting in the Leiden Collection painting similarly indicate that the sitterwanted to stress his full engagement in the experience of being

Fig 3. Michael Sweerts, Anthonij
de Bordes and His Valet, ca.
1648, oil on canvas, 50.7 x 66.6
cm, National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., Gift from theCollection of Dr. Arthur and Mrs.
Arlene Elkind, Fund given inhonor of Derald Ruttenberg’s
Grandchildren, and New Century© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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abroad.[6] The directness of the portrait resembles that of cloth merchantFund, 2012.13.1

Anthony de Bordes, who commissioned a portrait by Michael Sweerts(1618–64) in about 1648 (fig 3). De Bordes visited Italy in 1648, and the
backdrop of his portrait—an obelisk standing in a park-like landscape witha fountain—places the scene in Rome.[7] Whereas the merchant is helped
out of his boots by a servant, suggesting he has just returned from riding in
the Roman countryside, the man in Van Mieris’s painting has simply beenwalking.
In painting Traveler at Rest, Van Mieris used a copper plate, an ultrasmoothsupportideally

suitedtohisrefinedandmeticulous

technique.[8] Interestingly, the artist, who had spent a short time training asagoldsmith,applied

a

layer

of

gold

leaf

over

the

copperground.[9] Rembrandt had done the same around 1629–30 in hisLaughing
Soldier.[10] But while the latter artist allowed the gold to glint through thesurface of the paint, Van Mieris covered up the gold with his preparatory
layers. He may have wanted to protect the painting from the ravages oftime, as gold shields the paint from copper’s oxidation. In any event, thisexpensive technique is another indication that the painting wascommissioned by a wealthy individual who wanted his portrait painted as areminder of his travels to Italy. Without knowing the details of Van Mieris’s
technique, Gustav Friedrich Waagen (1797–1868), the director of the
Berlin museums and the first professor of art history in that city, praised
this painting in 1854 as being “of that soft golden tone, and of that delicate
feeling, which distinguish his best pictures.”[11]The earliest known owner of Traveler at Rest is probably Jacob Hoofman(d. 1799). After his death, the painting must have been inherited by one of
his art-loving daughters, either Margaretha Hoofman (1773–1807) orMaria Hoofman (1776–1845), who each inherited half of their father’scollection.[12] After Margaretha’s death, her part of the paintings collection
was inherited by her husband, Pieter Quarles van Ufford (1757–1834),
who transferred the ownership of the most important works in thiscollection to his unmarried sister-in-law, Maria Hoofman, while others weresold anonymously in 1818.[13] In or before 1819 the painting was part of
the art collection of shipbuilder William Wells (1768–1847), who lived in
Kent.[14] After Wells’s death, the painting was acquired by Robert Staynor
Holford (1808–92), a member of the British parliament. In 1857 Holford
lent the painting to the famous exhibition in Manchester, Art Treasures of© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Traveler at Rest
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the United Kingdom.[15] Apart from that exhibition, the painting remained at
Holford’s London residence, Dorchester House, which his son, Sir George
Holford (1860–1926), inherited in 1892. After the latter’s death,Traveler at
Rest became the property of Giovanni Agnelli (1921–2003), head of the
Italian automobile company Fiat in Turin. The painting entered a private
collection in Germany in 1988, after which it was acquired by the New
York collector Eric Martin Wunsch (1924–2013). In January 2014, thisexquisite painting entered the Leiden Collection.

-Quentin Buvelot© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes
1. Previously, this highly accomplished painting was dated 1656–57 and 1655–57; cf.,
respectively, Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk,
1981), 1:44; and Quentin Buvelot, “The Resting Traveler,” in Frans van Mieris 1635–1681,
ed. Quentin Buvelot (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery ofArt) (Zwolle, 2005), 98.
2. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:46;
and Dieter Beaujean, “Der Besuch im Atelier, um 1655,” in Wettstreit der Künste: Malerei
und Skulptur von Dürer bis Daumier , ed. Ekkehard Mai and Kurt Wettengl (Exh. cat. Munich,Haus der Kunst; Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum) (Wolfratshausen, 2002), 328.
3. A second painting of the same size by Van Mieris, The Broken Egg, has been wrongly
described as the pendant to Traveler at Rest. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris(1635–1681)

theElder,

2

vols.

(Doornspijk,

1981),

1:45;

see

also

Cornelia

Moiso-Diekamp, Das Pendant in der Holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts(Frankfurt am Main, 1987), 383, no. D 6; and Quentin Buvelot, “The Resting Traveler,” inFrans van Mieris 1635–1681, ed. Quentin Buvelot (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis;
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art) (Zwolle, 2005), 98–100, no. 10.
4. For Kick’s painting, see: sale Zurich, Koller, 20 September 2013, no. 3063; sale Amsterdam,
Christie’s, 10 November 1992, no. 127. See also Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris(1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:45 and fig. 32; 2:18; A. Lasius,
Quiringh van Brekelenkam (Doornspijk, 1992), 166–67, no. D 25. For Fabritius’s painting,see G. Seelig in F. J. Duparc, Carel Fabritius 1622–1654 (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis;
Schwerin, Staatliches Museum) (Zwolle, 2005), no. 12.
5. Otto Naumann, Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder , 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981),
2:18–19, however, proposed an interpretation that involved an emblematic reading of thismotif that suggested that the traveler had not carefully considered his actions; followed in
Quentin Buvelot, “The Resting Traveler,” in Frans van Mieris 1635–1681, ed. Quentin
Buvelot (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art)
(Zwolle, 2005), 98–100, no. 10.
6. I would like to thank Otto Naumann and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. for their generous andimportant input with regard to the interpretation of Traveler at Rest, as expressed in personalcorrespondence of February 2014.
7. R. Kultzen, Michael Sweerts (Ghent, 1996), no. 32; Guido Jansen and Peter C. Sutton,
Michael Sweerts (1618–1664) (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum; Fine Arts Museums of
San Francisco; Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum) (Zwolle, 2002), 77–79, no. 4, repr.
Interestingly, the pose of Van Mieris’s protagonist is similar to that of a resting traveler in a
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painting that Sweerts produced in Rome in about 1650. See Otto Naumann, Frans van
Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder, 2 vols. (Doornspijk, 1981), 1:46 and fig. 39; R. Kultzen,
Michael Sweerts (Ghent, 1996), no. 8.
8. Only in 1988, when the painting was restored after its acquisition by Otto Naumann, was it
discovered that the work is painted on a copper plate. Until then it had always been
assumed that the painting was on panel, beginning with John Smith,A Catalogue Raisonnéof the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters , 9 vols. (London,
1829–42), 1:81, no. 79.
9. Isabel Horovitz, “The Materials and Techniques of European Paintings on Copper
Supports,” in Michael K. Komanecky et al., Copper as Canvas: Two Centuries ofMasterpiece Paintings on Copper, 1575–1775 (Exh. cat. Phoenix Art Museum; Kansas City,
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (New York, 1998), 88 n. 41.
10. Copper, 15.3 x 12.2 cm (with auxiliary support: 21.5 x 18.2 cm), The Hague, Mauritshuis,inv. 598; see B. Broos and A. van Suchtelen in Portraits in the Mauritshuis, 1430–1790 ,ed. Quentin Buvelot (The Hague and Zwolle, 2004), no. 46, repr.
11. Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, trans. Elizabeth Eastlake, 3vols. (London, 1854), 2:200.
12. According to Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Collected at
Manchester in 1857 (Exh. cat. Manchester, City Art Gallery) (London, 1857), 74, no. 1078;
Theophile Thoré, Trésors d’art en Angleterre, 3 (Paris: J. Renouard, 1865), 279; andCornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith , 8 vols. (London,
1907–27), translated from Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke derhervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts , 10 vols. (Esslingen andParis, 1907–28), 10:28, no. 101, the painting came from the Hoofman Collection. For thiscollection, see Adriaan van der Willigen, Catalogus der schilderijen van Mejuffrouw
Hoofman, unpublished manuscript, kept at the RKD (Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische
Documentatie/Netherlands Institute for Art History); see also Roeland van Eijnden and
Adriaan van der Willigen, Geschiedenis der vaderlandsche schilderkunst, sedert de helft
der XVIIIe eeuw, 4 vols. (Haarlem, 1816–40), 3:396, 423, 482; 4:309.
13. Catalogus eener uitmuntende verzameling van zeer schoone en kostbare schilderijen [J.
Hoofman and P. Quarles van Ufford] , Amsterdam, 20 October 1818, passim; see also Ruud
Priem, “The ‘Most Excellent Collection’ of Lucretia Johanna van Winter: The Years
1809–22,” Simiolus 25 (1997): 103–225, 183–84, nos. 2–3.
14. See Dianne Sachko Macleod, “Wells, William,” Oxford Dictionary.
15. See Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Collected at Manchester in1857 (Exh. cat. Manchester, City Art Gallery) (London, 1857), 74, no. 1078. See also
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Traveler at Rest
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Francis Haskell, Rediscoveries in Art: Some Aspects of Taste, Fashion and Collecting in
England and France (Oxford, 1980), 157–80.

Provenance
Probably Jacob Hoofman, Haarlem, by 1799; by descent to Maria or Margaretha Hoofman,
Haarlem.
William Wells, Redleaf, Kent, by 1819 (sale, Christie’s, London, 12–13 May 1848, no. 85[493 guineas to Fuller]).
Sir Robert Staynor Holford (1808–92), Dorchester House, London, 1848, and by descent to
Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860–1926), Dorchester House, London (his sale, London;
Christie’s, London, 17–18 May 1928, no. 21 [504 guineas to Boehler]).
Giovanni Agnelli (1921–2003), Turin, until 1988 [Otto Naumann Ltd., New York, from whomacquired by Diethelm Doll].
Diethelm Doll, Bad Godesberg, Bonn, 1988 [David Koetser Gallery, Zurich, from whomacquired by Eric Martin Wunsch].
Eric Martin Wunsch (1924–2013), New York (his sale, Christie’s, New York, 29 January
2014, no. 5).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
London, British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom, “Exhibition of
Pictures of the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, and Dutch Schools,” 1819, no. 34 [lent by William
Wells, Redleaf, Kent].
Manchester, City Art Gallery, “Exhibition of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom,” 1857,
no. 1078 [lent by Sir Robert Staynor Holford].
London, Royal Academy of Arts, “Winter Exhibition: Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters,
and by Deceased Masters of the British School,” January–March 1894, no. 49 [lent by Sir
George Lindsay Holford, London].
Leiden, Lakenhal Museum, “Fêtes de Rembrandt à Leyde: L’exposition de tableaux et dedessins de Rembrandt et d’autres maîtres de Leyde, du dix-septième siècle,” 15 July–15
September 1906, no. 27 [lent by Sir George Lindsay Holford, London].
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Traveler at Rest
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London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, “Winter Exhibition: Pictures and Other Objects of Art
Selected from the Collections of Mr. Robert Holford (1808–1892),” 1921–22, no. 35 [lent by
Sir George Lindsay Holford, London].
The Hague, The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, “Frans van Mieris 1635–1681: Painted
Perfection,” 1 October 2005–22 January 2006; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, 26
February–21 May 2006, no. 10.
Paris, Museé du Louvre, “Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection: The Age of Rembrandt,”
22 February–22 May 2017 [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].

References
Catalogue of Pictures of the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, and Dutch Schools . Exh. cat.
London, British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. London, 1819,
no. 34.
Buchanan, William. Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of
Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revolution . 2 vols. London,
1824, 1:206.
Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish andFrench Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829–42, 1:81, no. 79.
Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of the Chief
Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated MSS., etc . Translated by
Elizabeth Eastlake. 3 vols. London, 1854, 2:200.
Catalogue of the Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Collected at Manchester in 1857 .
Exh. cat. Manchester, City Art Gallery. London, 1857, 74, no. 1078.
Bürger, William [Etienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré]. Trésors d’Art en Angleterre. Paris, 1865,
279.
Champlin, John Denison and Perkins, Charles C. Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings . 4
vols. New York, 1886–87, 3:265.
Winter Exhibition: Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the
British School. Exh. cat. London, Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1894, 14, no. 49.
Roberts, William. Memorials of Christie’s: A Record of Art Sales from 1766–1896. 2 vols.
London, 1897, 2:156.
Fêtes de Rembrandt à Leyde: Catalogue de l’exposition de tableaux et de dessins de© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Traveler at Rest
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Rembrandt et d’autres maîtres de Leyde, du dix-septième siècle . Exh. cat. Leiden,
Lakenhal Museum. Leiden, 1906, 12, no. 27.
Von Wurzbach, Alfred. Niederländisches Künstler-Lexicon. 3 vols. Vienna and Leipzig,
1906–11, 2:195.
Mireur, Hippolyte. Dictionnaire des ventes d’art faites en France et à l’éntranger pendant
les XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. 7 vols. Paris, 1911–12, 5:187.
Graves, Algernon. A Century of Loan Exhibitions, 1813 –1912. 5 vols. New York, 1913–15,
2:777–78.
Graves, Algernon. Art Sales From Early in the Eighteenth Century to Early in the TwentiethCentury. 3 vols. London, 1918–21, 2:220.
Catalogue of Pictures and Other Objects of Art Selected from the Collections of Mr. Robert
Holford (1808–1892) mainly from Westonbirt in Gloucestershire . Exh. cat. London,
Burlington Fine Arts Club. London, 1921, 26, no. 35.
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 . 8 vols.
London, 1907–27, 10:28, no. 101. Translated from Beschreibendes und kritisches
Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts .
10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Benson, Robert. The Holford Collection: Dorchester House . 2 vols. London, 1927, 2:32, no.
156.
Bénézit, Emmanuel. Dictionnaire Critique et Documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs,
Dessinateurs et Graveurs. 10 vols. Paris, 1953, 4:117.
Naumann, Otto. Frans van Mieris (1635–1681) the Elder . 2 vols. Doornspijk, 1981, 1:44–46;
2:18–19, no. 16.
Moiso-Diekamp, Cornelia. Das Pendant in der Holländischen Malerei des 17.
Jahrhunderts. Frankfurt am Main, 1987, 383, no. D6.
Buvelot, Quentin. “Le Repo devant l’auberge.” In Tableaux flamands et hollandais duMuseé Fabre de Montpellier. Edited by Quentin Buvelot, Michel Hilaire, and Oliver Zeder.
Exh. cat. Paris, Netherlands Institute; Montpellier, Fabre Museum. Paris and Montpellier,
1998, 195, n. 6.
Horowitz, Isabel. “The Materials and Techniques of European Paintings on Copper
Supports.” In Copper as Canvas: Two Centuries of Masterpiece Paintings on Copper,
1575–1775. Exh. cat. Phoenix Art Museum; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; The
Hague, Mauritshuis. New York, 1998, 88, n. 41.
Laabs, Annegret, and Schölzel, Christoph. Von der lustvollen Betrachtung der Bilder:
Leidener Feinmaler in der Dresdener Gemäldegalerie . Exh. cat. Dresden, Old Masters
Picture Gallery. Leipzig, 2000, 65, 67, n. 120.
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Laabs, Annegret and Schölzel, Christoph. The Leiden Fijnschilders from Dresden . Edited by
Christiaan Vogelaar. Exh. cat. Leiden, Lakenhal Museum. Zwolle, 2000, 69, n. 18.
Beaujean, Dieter. “Der Besuch im Atelier, um 1655.” In Wettstreit der Künste: Malerei und
Skulptur von Dürer bis Daumier . Edited by Ekkehard Mai and Kurt Wettengl. Exh. cat.
Munich, Haus der Kunst; Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Wolfratshausen, 2002, 328.
Buvelot, Quentin. “The Resting Traveler.” In Frans van Mieris 1635–1681.

Edited by

Quentin Buvelot. Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery ofArt. Zwolle, 2005, 98–100, no. 10, 232, no. 16.

Versions
Versions and Copies

1. Copy after Frans van Mieris the Elder, A Traveler at Rest, oil on panel, 21.5 x 17.5 cm,current whereabouts unknown; formerly J. Borie (his sale, Palais Galliera, Paris, 21 March
1977, no. 5); G. Tournier (his sale, Palais d’Orsay, Paris, 8 December 1977, no. 11, as by
Ary de Vois).

Versions Notes

Technical Summary
The painting was examined in normal and ultraviolet light, without the benefit of X-radiographs,
infrared reflectography or microscopy.
The support is a thin metal plate, estimated to be copper possibly with a coating of gold.[1] It has
been adhered to a wooden panel with a vertical grain and thin wooden strips have been added to
all four edges, creating a collar. A cradle has been attached to the back of the panel.
The ground is either extremely thin or non-existent. The paint was applied wet-into-wet with thelights and darkest darks painted on top of the mid-tones. The artist layered fine, delicate strokes
on top of one another, dragging paint from the lower layer to blend the colors. He used broader
strokes in the background and very fine strokes in the figure. The foliage was painted in thinglazes. A 1.0cm high dark brown strip, which may be a later addition, was painted along thebottom edge.
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The copper is in plane, though there are slight indentations in the upper right quadrant and in thesitter’s proper left thigh. A wavy, indented line is visible along the bottom but this may be in thepaint or varnish.There is an extremely find craquelure pattern throughout the paint, which is more
visible in the darks. Tiny paint losses mark the intersections of the cracks in the background.
There are losses in the sitter’s proper left sleeve, proper right chest and shoulder, and in the sky
in the arch.
The support is a thin metal plate that is estimated to be copper. A small area of the plate is
exposed in the bottom right corner, revealing a copper color. It may be coated with gold. It has
been adhered, presumably with glue, to a wooden panel with a vertical grain. Wooden strips
have been added to all four edges, creating a collar, so that the edges and back of the plate arecompletely obscured. A cradle with three vertical members and three horizontal member was
attached to the back of the panel. The cradle extends onto the wooden strips.
Either a very thin ground or no ground is present. In cracks and areas of loss the copper plate is
exposed and no ground is visible. However, the painting has a slightly lumpy, grainy texture. It is
unclear if this is indicative of a ground or if the texture is in the plate and/or the paint.
The paint is estimated to be oil, though no analysis has been done. It was painted wet-into-wet
with the lights and darkest darks painted on top of the mid-tones. The artist layered fine, delicate
strokes on top of one another, dragging paint from the lower layer to blend the colors. He usedbroader strokes in the background and very fine strokes in the figure. The foliage was painted inthin glazes. A dark brown strip, approximately 1.0 cm high, was painted along the bottom edge. It
is unclear if this was a later addition.
The painting is coated with a natural resin varnish.
The copper plate is stable and remains in mostly in plane. There is a slight indentation in theupper right quadrant. The indentation measures approximately 2cm by 4 cm. Another small
indentation is found in the sitter’s proper left thigh. A wavy, indented line is visible along thebottom but it is unclear if this indentation is in the paint, the varnish or the copper plate.
An extremely fine craquelure pattern extends throughout the paint, though it is more visible in thedarks. A fair number of tiny paint losses mark the intersections of the cracks in the background,especially in the upper left quadrant, and in the sitter’s dark sleeves. There is a cluster of small
losses in the sitter’s proper left sleeve near his elbow. Additional losses are found in the sitter’s
proper right chest and shoulder, above his hat. A larger loss is located in the sky in the arch.
The varnish is slightly thick, but it remains clear and even.

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

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1. Isabel Horovitz, “The Materials and Techniques of European Paintings on Copper
Supports,” in Michael K. Komanecky et al., Copper as Canvas: Two Centuries ofMasterpiece Paintings on Copper, 1575-1775 (Exh. cat. Phoenix Art Museum; The NelsonAtkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague)(New York, 1999), 88 n. 41. Horovitz states that Charlotte Hale of the Metropolitan Museumof Art communicated that the support had a layer of gold leaf over the copper.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection