© 2017 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 2 of 8

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret

1668

Frans van Mieris(Leiden 1635 – 1681 Leiden)

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-108Currently on view at: The National Museum ofChina, Beijing

How To Cite
Buvelot, Quentin. "“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited byArthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/.
This page is available on the site's Archive. PDF of every version of this page is available on the Archive,
and the Archive is managed by a permanent URL. Archival copies will never be deleted. New versions areadded only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed BeretPage 3 of 8Frans 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 encounterthe faces 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 theartist depicted himself holding a pipe and his wife pulling the ear of a littledog.[2] In this little painting, dated 1668, we can recognize the painter’sfeatures and his double chin, as well as his characteristic moustache andcurly hair.[3] Situated before a plain background, Van Mieris painted
himself bust-length with a smile on his face, as though surprised at seeing
the viewer. Wound around his neck and partly draped over his shoulder isa patterned scarf that largely covers a shiny metal gorget, which
contemporary viewers would have understood as having a military
function.[4] On the painter’s cap is a plume that is the same color as hisFig 1. Frans van Mieris theElder, Self-Portrait, 1661, oil on
panel (oval), 11.2 x 8.4 cm,
private collection

brown hair. It is possible that Van Mieris, as he often did, originally paired
this portrait with one of his wife; the earliest of such 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 otherartist in the Republic, including his teacher, Gerrit Dou (1613–75), andRembrandt 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 facial expression. These are essentially studies of “affects” orFig 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

passions, what we would call emotions. This tradition cannot be separated
from certain passages in art-theoretical writings. Rembrandt’s pupil
Samuel van Hoogstraten wrote about the subject in his Inleyding tot dehooge schoole der schilderkonst (Introduction to the Advanced School ofPainting), advising artists who studied themselves in the mirror “totransform themselves into actors,” and that in acting out the “passions”
they should endeavor “to be player 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 neverFig 3. Frans van Mieris the Elder,© 2017 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 4 of 8

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” self-portrait was

Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1667,
oil on panel, 17.7 x 13.3 cm,
Polesden Lacey, Surrey, TheNational Trustprobably intended as a comic image, which at the same time constituted afine example of Van Mieris’s exquisite technique. That paintings of thiskind were not interpreted as “ordinary” portraits is clear from descriptionsin the inventory of the Leiden collector Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius (seeFM-104). This document made a clear distinction between the portraits
and tronies of Van Mieris in the collection, even though the painter and hiswife were recognized in each.[11]-Quentin Buvelot© 2017 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed BeretPage 5 of 8Endnotes
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 hiswife (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 Studyin Seventeenth-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.
9. See Ernst de Jongh, Portretten van echt en trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de nederlandse© 2017 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 6 of 8

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, andno. 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, 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].

References
Naumann, Otto and Buvelot, Quentin. Frans van Mieris 1635–1681. Edited by Quentin
Buvelot. Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis; Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art. New
Haven, 2005, 238, no. 125 (wrongly as dated “1661”).
Weller, Dennis P. Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Their Contemporaries .
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 7 of 8

Exh. cat. Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art; Birmingham Museum of Art. Raleigh, 2014,
135–37, no. 23.

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

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 andtwo 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 thesmaller 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 toolmarks.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied followed by paint, which has been
applied 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© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)“Self-Portrait” with a Plumed Beret
Page 8 of 8

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.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection