Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait ofPrince Rupert of the Palatinate)ca. 1631

Jan Lievens(Leiden 1607 – 1674 Amsterdam)

66.7 x 51.8 cm

oil on panel
JL-104Currently on view at: The National Museum ofChina, Beijing© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of thePalatinate)
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How To Cite
DeWitt, Lloyd. "Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of the Palatinate)." InThe Leiden
Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017.
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Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of thePalatinate)
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In this beautiful and compelling image, Jan Lievens has depicted a smooth-Comparative Figures

faced boy exotically dressed in a golden cape attached with a chain clasp
and a blue and gold turban festooned with a soaring ostrich plume. Lightfalling from the left illuminates the brilliant, shimmering fabrics of hiswardrobe, a symphony of yellows, golds, and blues that bespeaks wealthand privilege. As exquisitely as Lievens has rendered the fabrics, evenmore remarkable is the sensitivity with which he has characterized thesitter’s expression. As the youth stands with one hand clasping his richly
decorated cloth belt, he stares out to left with wide open eyes with aserious demeanor that conveys both dignity and inner resolve.[1]The sitter looks like a Turkish or Persian character or a figure from abiblical story, but he is actually Prince Rupert of the Palatinate (1619–90),
the youngest son of Frederick V (1596–1632), elector Palatinate, andFig 1. Rembrandt and studio,
Prince Rupert with His Tutor as
Samuel and Eli, ca. 1631, oil oncanvas, 102.9 x 88.3 cm, J. Paul
Getty Museum, Los Angeles,
84.PA.570

Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1661). Lievens painted this portrait while
Frederick, the nephew of Frederik Hendrik, stadholder of the United
Provinces, and Elizabeth, daughter of James I, king of England, wereliving in exile in The Hague after losing their realm in 1619. Frederick had
been named king of Bohemia in November 1619, but his Protestant forceswere soon routed by those of Emperor Ferdinand II at the Battle of White
Mountain, a key battle of the Thirty Years War. Since their reign only
lasted one winter they were often referred to derisively as the Winter Kingand Winter Queen; nevertheless, they were warmly welcomed in The
Hague and they maintained close relationships with Frederick Hendrickand his consort, Amalia van Solms.[2]Lievenspresumablyreceived

thiscommissionthroughtherecommendation of Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687), secretary toFig 2. Jan Lievens, Man inOriental Costume (“SultanSoliman”), 1629–30, oil oncanvas, 135 x 100.5 cm, Neues
Gallerie, Potsdam, GK 1, 884

Frederick Hendrick, the prince of Orange and a scholar and connoisseur
passionately interested in science, art, and music. In the late 1620s andearly 1630s Huygens was instrumental in helping Lievens and Rembrandt
van Rijn (1606–69) become court painters, not only for Frederick Hendrickand Amalia van Solms but also for Frederick and Elizabeth.[3] Huygens
was a great admirer of Lievens’s portraits, about which he wrote: “Inpainting the human countenance, he [Lievens] wreaks miracles,” and his
artistic recommendations would have been eagerly followed by thesecourtly patrons.[4] Portrait commissions from the Bohemian court were also
appealing for Lievens because of his aspirations to become a court painterfor Elizabeth’s brother, King Charles of England.
© 2017 The Leiden Collection

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In the early 1630s Lievens and Rembrandt each painted portraits of thechildren of Frederick and Elizabeth. Rembrandt, with workshop
participation, painted a portrait historié of Rupert and his tutor, possibly in
the guise of the biblical figures Samuel and Eli (fig 1). In that painting
Rupert wears an Oriental costume similar to that in the Leiden Collection
painting.[5] In 1631 Lievens painted a portrait historié of Rupert’s olderbrother, Charles Louis (1617–80), also in Oriental costume, and his tutor(J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). Lievens’s painting was presumably
a pendant to Rembrandt’s portrait historié.[6] Around 1631 Lievens also
executed a formal portrait of Rupert.[7]Meredith Hale proposed that the sitter of the Leiden Collection painting
was Charles Louis, but because of the sitter’s young age and his close
resemblance to the figure in Rembrandt’s portrait historié, a stronger
argument can be made that he is Rupert.[8] Rupert, who was twelve years
old in 1631, had a straighter nose and narrower face than did CharlesLouis, who was his elder by two years. These slight differences in theappearances of the princes became more prominent over time if one
judges by double portrait Anthony van Dyck (1599–1640) painted of thetwo young men in 1637 (Musée du Louvre, Paris).[9] There, the prominent
jaw and sloping eyelids of the older but shorter Charles Louis havebecome quite distinctive features.
Rupert’s Oriental dress was part of a vogue for such costume in theNetherlands and England at the time, and Elizabeth must have specified
this attire when she commissioned the portrait. Perhaps her interest wasprovoked by the physical appearance and manners of the members of thePersian embassy, notably Musa Beg, who fascinated the Dutch when hevisited The Hague in 1626 on behalf of Shah Abbas to secure a trade pactwith the Dutch.[10] Lievens seems also to have been inspired by the figureof one of the Magi in a painting of the Adoration of the Magi by Peter Paul
Rubens (1577–1640), a composition that would have been known to him
through an engraving, dated 1621, by Lucas Vorstermans (1595–1675).
Lievens had also used Rubens’s magus as the basis forMan in Oriental
Costume (“Sultan Soliman”), 1629–30 (fig 2). This imposing painting wasin the collection of Frederik Hendrik and therefore probably known toElizabeth, which may explain why Lievens’s portrait of Rupert in Oriental
costume follows very closely the pose and costume of the “sultan.”© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of thePalatinate)
Page 5 of 10-Lloyd DeWitt© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of thePalatinate)
Page 6 of 10Endnotes
1. Rupert’s averted glance is seen in many of Lievens’s portraits, including his Self-Portrait ofca. 1631–32 (JL-105). Lievens, with few exceptions, tended to make his sitters and figures
seem aloof, detached, or reflective, and in this portrait he used the sideways glance to givethe prince an air of thoughtful authority. See Lloyd DeWitt, “Evolution and Ambition in theCareer of Jan Lievens (1607–1674)” (Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 2006), 76.
2. Marika Keblusek, “The Bohemian Court at The Hague,” in Princely Display: The Court ofFrederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia van Solms , ed. Marika Keblusek and Jori Zijlmans(Exh cat. Historical Museum, The Hague) (Zwolle, 1997), 47–49.
3. See Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Bringing New Light to an Old Master,”Jan Lievens: A Dutch
Master Rediscovered, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National
GalleryofArt;

Milwaukee,

Milwaukee

ArtMuseum;

Amsterdam,Museum

Het

Rembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2008), 9–10.
4. Constantijn Huygens wrote these words in his autobiography. This quotation is taken fromJan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered , ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat.
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam,Museum Het Rembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2008), 287.
5. Christopher Brown identified the boy in the Rembrandt workshop portrait as Prince Rupert
based on an eighteenth-century description and the provenance. Ernst van de Wetering in
Ernst van de Wetering and Bernhard Schnackenburg, eds., The Mystery of the YoungRembrandt (Exh. cat. Kassel, Museumslandschaft Hessen; Amsterdam, Museum Het
Rembrandthuis) (Wolfratshausen, 2001), 326–31.
6. Lloyd DeWitt, “Prince Charles Louis with His Tutor, as the Young Alexander Instructed byAristotle,” in Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered , ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh.
cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum;
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2008), 138, no. 29.
7. Jan Lievens, Portrait of Prince Rupert of the Palatinate, ca. 1631, oil on canvas, 66. 2 x 51.6
cm, formerly Richard Green Ltd., London.
8. Meredith Hale, “Boy in a Cape and Turban,” in Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered ,ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee,Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2008),
141, no. 30.
9. Susan J. Barnes, Nora de Poorter, Oliver Millar, and Horst Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete
Catalogue of the Paintings (New Haven, 2004), 485–86, no. IV. 69.
10. Hermann Goetz, “Persians and Persian Costumes in Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of thePalatinate)
Page 7 of 10Century,” Art Bulletin 20 (1938): 287.

ProvenanceJules Porgès, Paris, by 1921 (sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 17 June 1924, no. 105, asby studio of Rembrandt [Galerie van Diemen, Berlin, 1925; to Guttman]).
S. Guttman, Berlin and London; by descent to the Bett family (sale, Bonhams, London, 13December 1990, no. 102 [£584,500 to Emmanuel Moatti, Paris; to a private collection,Brazil, around 1994]).
Private collection, Brazil (sale, Christie’s, New York, 17 June 2004, no. 72 [to Johnny vanHaeften, Ltd., London]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2004.

Exhibition History
Berlin, Akademie der Künste, “Gemälde alter Meister aus Berliner Besitz,” July–August
1925, no. 218 [lent by Galerie van Diemen, Berlin].
London, Matthiesen Gallery, “Rembrandt’s Influence in the Seventeenth Century,” 20February–2 April 1953, no. 46 [lent by S. Guttman or his descendants].
Paris, Grand Palais, “16e Biennale Internationale,” 18 September–4 October 1992
[displayed by Emanuel Moatti, Paris].
Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, 24 August
2004–31 October 2005 [lent by the present owner].
Washington, National Gallery of Art, “Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered,” 26
October 2008–11 January 2009; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum, 7 February–26 April
2009; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, 17 May–9 August 2009, no. 30 [lent by thepresent owner].
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, on loan with the permanent collection, January
2010–February 2012 [lent by the present owner].
Istanbul, Sakip Sabanci Museum, “Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age ofDutch Art,” 21 February–10 June 2012, no. 68 [lent by the present owner].
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, on loan with the permanent collection, September
2012–September 2013 [lent by the present owner].
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Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, on loan with the permanent collection, April 2013–April 2016
[lent by the present owner].
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
Gemälde alter Meister aus Berliner Besitz . Exh. cat. Berlin, Akademie der Künste. Berlin,1925, 38, no. 218.
Schneider, Hans. Jan Lievens, sein Leben und seine Werke . Haarlem, 1932, 29–30; reprint
with a supplement by R. E. O Ekkart. Amsterdam, 1973, 131, 329, no. 153.
Goetz, Herman. “Persians and Persian Costumes in Dutch Painting of the SeventeenthCentury.” Art Bulletin 20 (1938): 287.
Gerson, Horst. Rembrandt’s Influence in the Seventeenth Century: Catalogue of a LoanExhibition. Exh. cat. London, Matthiesen Gallery. London, 1953, no. 46.
Bauch, Kurt. “Zum Werk des Jan Lievens (II).” Pantheon 25 (1967): 264–66, fig. 22.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler in vier Bänden. 6 vols. Landau, 1983,
3:1802, 1904, no. 1265.
Moatti, Emmanuel. Moatti: Tableaux Anciens. Sales cat. Paris, Grand Palais, 16e Biennale
des Antiquaires. Paris, 1992, no. 5.
Scott, Barbara. “Letter from Paris: The Biennale at the Grand Palais.” Apollo 136(September 1992): 184.
Gudbrod, Helga. Lievens und Rembrandt: Studien zum Verhältnis ihrer Kunst . Frankfurt amMain, 1996, 286, 312, 316.
Hale, Meredith. “Boy in a Cape and Turban.” In Jan Lievens: A Dutch MasterRediscovered. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Galleryof Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis. New
Haven, 2008, 140–41, no. 30.
Gifford, E. Melanie. “Lievens’ Technique: Wonders in Smeared Paint, Varnishes, and Oils.”
In Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Exh. cat.
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam,Museum Het Rembrandthuis. New Haven, 2008, 47, 52.
DeWitt, Lloyd. “Young Man in Yellow (Self-Portrait?).” In Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Boy in a Cape and Turban (Portrait of Prince Rupert of thePalatinate)
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Rediscovered. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Galleryof Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis. NewHaven, 2008, 146.
Van der Goes, Bernadette. “De herontdekking van Jan Lievens.” Collect: Kunst & Antiek
Journal 14, no. 4 (April 2009): 36.
Wuestman, Gerdien, ed. Rembrandt and His Contemporaries: The Golden Age of Dutch
Art. Exh. cat. Istanbul, Sakip Sabanci Museum. Istanbul, 2012, 148–49, no. 68.

Technical Summary
The support is a rectangular composite panel composed of two vertically grained Baltic oak
planks of similar but not identical widths.[1] The panel join runs right of center. There are bevels
along all four edges, and the panel is unthinned and uncradled. There are two paper labels, ablack stencil, and two handwritten inscriptions, but no wax collection seals, import stamps, panel
maker’s marks or machine toolmarks.
A light-colored ground is thinly and evenly applied followed by a light brown imprimatura.
The paint has been applied quickly with thin opaque scumbles, which allow the ground andimprimatura to show through in areas, and wet-into-wet where one stroke interrupts the other.
The cloak appears to have been underpainted with a deep crimson, which gives a warmth to theshadowed folds. The turban decoration and the feather have been scratched into wet paint withthe back of a brush.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
Infrared images captured at 780–1700 nanometers reveal a dark brushy sketch below the paintsurface used to establish the shadows along the figure’s proper left shoulder and left side of theneck and face. There is no additional finer underdrawing.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2004 and remains
in a good state of preservation.[2]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on Peter Klein’s two dendrochronology reports.
One states a dating could not be obtained; the other suggests an earliest fell date of 1617, amore plausible fell date of 1621…1623…1627 + x, and a plausible first use date from 1625
onward.
2. Entry based on a 2011 examination report by Kate Smith, Paintings Conservation
Department, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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