A Scholar at His Desk
Jacob Adriaensz Backer(Harlingen 1608/9 – Amsterdam 1651)

ca. 1632
oil on panel
66.4 x 50.8 cm
JAB-100© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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How to cite
DeWitt, Lloyd. “A Scholar at His Desk” (2022). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock
Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived December2023).
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.

An elderly, bearded scholar in a fur-lined cloak sits at a desk with an open book,

Comparative Figuressurrounded by the tools of his pursuits: an impressive inkwell, a well-worn quill pen
shorn of barbs, a quill box, a “pounce” caster, a stick of red sealing wax (with its sootblackened ring), and a leather portfolio containing a sheaf of writings.[1] The quill
rests in the inkwell and the adjacent quill box’s lid remains ajar, indicating that thisscholar has just finished composing the text before him. With his hands clasped, hesits in a moment of quiet repose, deeply lost in thought. A warm, broad light washes
over him, emphasizing his flushed cheeks and knotted brow. The scholar’s attire is awonderful contrast of textures, from the thin linen shirt to the heavy gray cloak with arich fur collar and shimmering velvet sleeves.
Jacob Adriaensz Backer (1608/9–51) painted A Scholar at His Desk around 1632 in
Leeuwarden, when he was working in the studio of Lambert Jacobsz (1598–1636),with whom he had trained since moving from Amsterdam to the Frisian capital in thelatter half of the 1620s. Jacobsz, like Backer, was a Mennonite, and the two men had

Fig 1. Lambert Jacobsz, Saint Luke,ca. 1630–31, oil on canvas, 100 x 90
cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen,inv. no. 1809.1, © C. Lancien, C.
Loisel / Réunion des Musées
Métropolitains Rouen Normandie.

previously known each other in Amsterdam when their families were close neighborson the Nieuwendijk.[2] In Leeuwarden, the older master, likely with the assistance ofBacker, frequently depicted large-figure history pieces, such as Elisha Refusing
Naaman’s Gifts in The Leiden Collection, as well as paintings of apostles andevangelists, including the imposing Apostle Paul in the Fries Museum and a series ofevangelists from the early 1630s in Rouen’s Musée des Beaux-Arts.[3] Jacobsz’s SaintLuke (fig 1) from this series may have served as a compositional model for Backer’sscholar, who is also shown turned to the left.
Saint Matthew (fig 2) from Jacobsz’s series must have also served as inspiration forFig 2. Lambert Jacobsz, SaintMatthew, ca. 1630–31, oil on canvas,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Backer since, like his master, Backer included Hebraic letters in his painting. They
appear on the sheet of paper lying on the table in the foreground; their inclusionindicates that this scholar was familiar with biblical texts. Unlike in Jacobsz’s

100 x 90 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts,Rouen, inv. no. 1809.2, © C. Lancien,C. Loisel / Réunion des Musées
Métropolitains Rouen Normandie.

painting, however, where the Hebrew text is decipherable, Backer’s lines consist
primarily of flat, gray bands, and the three Hebraic letters visible at the bottom of thepage are not accurately written.[4] While they resemble ‫( ה ש נ‬or chet, shin, nun), theword cheshen they spell is not a known word. An additional character that resembles
the Hebraic ‫( ה‬chet) appears in the upper corner of one of the pages in the standing
leatherbound pamphlet on the desk, though it, too, seems more of a suggestion thanan actual letter.
Lambert Jacobsz was an influential Mennonite preacher as well as artist and art
dealer.[5] While Mennonite preachers were typically not trained in Hebrew, Jacobsz
most likely had access to one of the rare, published Hebrew translations of Matthew’s
gospel—perhaps that of Sebastian Münster (2nd edition, 1557). The unusual inclusionof Hebrew text in both paintings, made at nearly the same time, lends further support
to the idea that Backer executed this work in Leeuwarden, while he was under thedirect influence of his master.

Fig 3. Jacob Adriaensz Backer,Hippocrates Visits Democritus inAbdera, ca. 1633, oil on canvas, 94 x
64 cm, Bader Collection, Milwaukee.

Backer’s painting in The Leiden Collection illustrates the artistic and spiritual bonds
between him and Lambert Jacobsz, but it also shows the first glimmers of the warm,
flowing style and gentler spirit that characterize Backer’s works after he moved toAmsterdam around 1633.[6] The undulating, fluid quality of his Amsterdam-period
style is fully evident in his Hippocrates Visits Democritus in Abdera (fig 3), a subject
taken from Classical antiquity that would have been more suitable for thecosmopolitan Amsterdam market than for collectors in Leeuwarden.[7] In thispainting, Backer recast the man who modeled for A Scholar at His Desk as
Democritus, who sits at the base of a tree writing in a large tome of his discoveries
about the natural world. The model Backer used for Heraclitus (along with his richgarment) only appears in his Amsterdam-period works, pointing to a date for thispainting after February 1633, when Backer returned to the metropolis.
While Backer continued to produce large-scale religious history paintings throughout
the rest of his career, A Scholar at His Desk constitutes the last known example of asingle-figured religious work in his oeuvre. Backer sadly never reached the wise old
age of the man portrayed in this painting, as he died in 1651 at the age of 43.[8] Henevertheless enjoyed a fulsome—albeit abbreviated—career of nearly two decades inAmsterdam, during which time his style further evolved into a more polished manner.

- Lloyd DeWitt, 2022© 2024 The Leiden Collection

A Scholar at His DeskPage 4 of 7Endnotes
1. A “pounce” caster was used to scatter an absorbent that was commonly used before the advent ofblotting paper.
2. Backer and Jacobsz lived across the street from each other until Jacobsz’s departure for Leeuwarden in
1620. See the biographies of Jacob Adriaensz Backer and Lambert Jacobsz in this catalogue.
3. Jacobsz only depicted large-scale history scenes between 1628 and 1633, a period that overlapped withBacker’s stay in Leeuwarden. For the Rouen series, see Diederik Bakhuÿs et al., Tableaux Flamands etHollandais du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (Paris, 2009), 78.
4. Saint Matthew’s text can be partly deciphered as “‫ ארץ בית לחם נולד ישוע‬. . .” (In the land of beit
lechem, yeshua was born . . .) (Matthew 2:1). This is the only painting in the Rouen series of Four
Evangelists with legible text on the page, and it represents an exceptional occurrence of Hebrew
appearing in Dutch art of the seventeenth century. Matthew’s gospel was widely thought to have beenoriginally written in Hebrew and addressed to his own people. Saint Jerome, On Famous Men, II: 2, 3,
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2708.htm.
My thanks to Joel Ray for his kind assistance in deciphering the letters and providing their translation.
The early church father and Bible translator Saint Jerome claimed to have seen a copy of Matthew’s
original text of his gospel in Hebrew. Versions of Shem Tob ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut’s 1380–85 polemicaltranslation of Matthew’s gospel in Hebrew published in his Touchstone (Ebn Bohan) seem to have beenused by Sebastian Münster (1537) and Jean du Tillet (1555) for their translations.
5. As noted by Arnold Houbraken, who was also a Mennonite, Lambert Jacobsz traveled as far as Cleves todeliver sermons. See Jasper Hillegers, “The Lambert Years: Govert Flinck in Leeuwarden, ca. 1629–ca.
1633,” in Ferdinand Bol and Govert Flinck: New Research, ed. Stephanie S. Dickey (Zwolle, 2017), 45;
and Arnold Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed. The Hague, 1753; repr. Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 20.
6. This style differs from the harder forms and severe characters in Jacobsz’s evangelists or the otherintensely focused Biblical figures he painted in Leeuwarden in the late 1620s and early 1630s. SeeDiederik Bakhuÿs et al., Tableaux Flamands et Hollandais du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (Paris,2009), 78. Backer had settled in Amsterdam in 1633, though he may have already moved to the city in
1632. See the biography of Jacob Adriaensz Backer in this catalogue.
7. Although Backer’s Hippocrates Visits Democritus in Abdera is listed in the 1637 Leeuwarden inventoryof the goods of Lambert Jacobsz, scholars have debated whether Backer painted it for Jacobsz after hehad moved to Amsterdam in 1632 or while Backer was still in Leeuwarden. Peter van de Brink hasargued that, as it was unsigned, it was most likely a Leeuwarden product—as was the closely connected
A Scholar at His Desk—and thus also made while Backer was under the employ of Jacobsz, who thenretained it. Jaap van der Veen correctly points out that while Democritus is based on Backer’s© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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Leeuwarden model, the model for Hippocrates appears in Rembrandt’s works painted in Amsterdam,such as Man in Oriental Costume, 1632 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), as well as several
Amsterdam-period tronies by Backer, including Old Man in Liturgical Dress, ca. 1632–33 (The State
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg) and Old Man in a Green Cloak, ca. 1632–33 (Gemäldegalerie,Dresden). The new awareness of Rembrandt’s success with richly costumed figures also points to an
Amsterdam-period work. Van der Veen also points out that Lambert Jacobsz was closely connected tohis fellow Mennonite and Amsterdam art dealer Gerrit van Uylenburgh, and Backer may have shipped
Hippocrates Visiting Democritus in Abdera from Amsterdam to Leeuwarden via this connection, throughwhich a number of other Amsterdam products joined Jacobsz’s inventory. Jaap van der Veen, “JacobBacker, Eine Biographische Skizze,” in Jacob Backer (1608/9–1651), ed. Peter van den Brink (Exh. cat.
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis; Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) (Zwolle, 2008), 33,88, and 178; David de Witt, The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish Paintings (Kingston, 2008), 51–52;
and Jasper Hillegers, “The Lambert Years: Govert Flinck in Leeuwarden, ca. 1629–ca. 1633,” inFerdinand Bol and Govert Flinck: New Research, ed. Stephanie S. Dickey (Zwolle, 2017), 52.
8. Jaap van der Veen, “Jacob Backer, Eine Biographische Skizze,” in Jacob Backer (1608/9–1651), ed.
Peter van den Brink (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis; Aachen, Suermondt-LudwigMuseum) (Zwolle, 2008), 24.

Provenance(Sale, Christie’s, London, 21 July 1972, no. 145, as by Jacob Jordaens [to Duits Gallery Ltd. for 1,900guineas].)[Duits Gallery Ltd., London.](Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 8 December 1976, no. 115 [for £2,000].)[Kunsthandel Gebroeder Douwes, Amsterdam, by 1977.]
Private collection, the Netherlands, by 1998 (sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, 16 November 2006, no. 60 [toJack Kilgore & Co., Inc., for €50,400]).
[Jack Kilgore & Co., Inc., New York.]
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

Exhibition History
Leeuwarden, Fries Museum, “Van Jan Steen tot Jan Sluijters: De smaak van Douwes,” 21 November
1998–21 February 1999, no. 2 [lent by a private collection].
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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References
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 1, J. A. Backer–A. van Dijck. Landau, 1983,135, 196, 224, no. 21.
Manuth, Volker. “Hippokrates besucht Demokrit in Abdera.” In Bilder vom alten Menschen in derniederländischen und deutschen Kunst 1550–1750. Edited by Jutta Desel and Thomas Döring. Exh. cat.
Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum. Braunschweig, 1993, 158, under no. 36.
Manuth, Volker, et al. Wisdom, Knowledge and Magic: The Image of the Scholar in Seventeenth-Century
Dutch Art. Exh. cat. Kingston, Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Kingston, 1996, 58, under no. 20.
Stoter, Marlies. Van Jan Steen tot Jan Sluijters: De smaak van Douwes. Exh. cat. Leeuwarden, FriesMuseum. Leeuwarden, 1998, no. 2.
Winiewicz-Wolska, Joanna. Malarstwo Holenderskie w Zbiorach zamku królewskiego na wawelu.
Krakow, 2001, 15, 262.
Van den Brink, Peter. “Peinzende geleerde aan zijn werktafel.” In Jacob Backer (1608/9– 1651). Editedby Peter van den Brink and Jaap van der Veen. Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis;
Aachen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum. Zwolle, 2008, 207–8, no. A7.

Technical Summary
The painting is on a panel support, most likely oak, and is made from three vertical planks with two narrowerplanks flanking a wider central one. The verso has original bevels to accommodate a frame on all four sides,
and there are fine horizontal grooves on the right plank, which may be original sawmill marks.
The beige ground is radio-opaque, and it fills the grooves in the wood grain. It appears in the X-radiograph tobe applied with a wide brush using sweeping horizontal strokes. No underdrawing is visible in the infrared(IR) photograph, but the artist made use of vigorous brushwork, still visible on the surface in some areas, tolay in initial contours for the final image. In the IR photo, some of these contours, such as the back of thefigure’s head, the rightmost side of his beard just below his ear, and his sleeve just below his beard have beenslightly adjusted in the final paint layers. The artist may also have changed the height of the book that stands
upright on the table in the background, increasing its height by about one-third. Both the ground and thepaint layers are thinly applied with no impasto, and in raking light the panel’s wood grain is evident on thesurface. In some areas, particularly the top third of the background, the final paint application is thin enoughthat the ground shows through.
The painting is in very good condition. There are splits at the bottom edge of the panel’s central plank and in
the right panel’s join, as seen from the verso. Both were repaired in the past and integrated with retouchingthat has now discolored. A few retouches in the thinly painted background, too, have discolored. The varnish,© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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which is slightly glossy, skipped over the surface when it was applied, leaving a few localized matte areas.
– Gerrit Albertson, 2022

© 2024 The Leiden Collection