Study of a Man with Curly Hairca. 1643

School of Rembrandt van Rijn

oil on panel
16.6 x 13.8 cm
RR-123© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
Page 2 of 6

How To Cite
DeWitt, David. "Study of a Man with Curly Hair." In The Leiden Collection Catalogue. Edited by Arthur 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

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
Page 3 of 6

This small panel depicts the bust of an old man with a beard. His torso

Comparative Figures

faces the viewer but his head turns to the right, so that his face appears inthree-quarter view. The light falling from the left accentuates the left cheekand ear, while the right side of his face and the eyes fall nearly completelyin shadow. The man’s curly hair is tousled and his short beard is unkempt.
Particularly noticeable is his large, round nose, which gives the man a“rough” aspect, indicating that he comes from a low social background.
The feature of the knollnase (bulbous nose) has been clarified by Wayne
Franits in light of contemporary physiognomic theories. Especially popularwere the so-called neusboeken (nose books) that illustrated various nasal
forms accompanied by satiric commentary. A large, bulbous nose, forFig 1. Workshop of Rembrandt
van Rijn, possibly Gerrit Dou andGovaert Flinck, Parable of theHidden Treasure, ca. 1630,Szépmüsézeti Múzeum,
Budapest, inv. 342

example, was associated with the vices of drunkenness and smoking, andwasconsidered[1]orders.

Likewise,suitable

forfiguresfromtheloosebrushwork

inthelower

socialwhich

thisnearlymonochromatic brownish image is painted supports this impression: theman’s whole face appears to be painted in rapid strokes of the brush,which emphasize his wrinkles as well as his lack of grooming.
As with other paintings in the Leiden Collection (RR-101, RR-109,RR-120), this tronie is based on a study from life.[2] In contrast, forexample, to Study of a Woman in a White Cap (RR-101), which should beunderstood primarily as a study of light, this work presents a specific facial
type—a rough figure—that could be used in a larger composition. A total offour versions of this study are known, all likely after a now-lost original by
Rembrandt of around 1640.[3] The prototype probably remained in

Fig 2. Rembrandt School, The
Beheading of John the Baptist,ca. 1645, oil on canvas, 149 ×
121 cm, Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam, inv. SK-A-91

Rembrandt’s studio and was copied by assistants and pupils as anexercise, or used as a model for a figure in their own paintings. The samehead appears, for example, in Parable of the Hidden Treasure in
Budapest, executed by an unknown follower, with still-life details added ina much finer hand, perhaps that of Gerrit Dou (1613–75) (fig 1).[4] The
farmer in this scene has the same type of face with the strikingly large
nose, although he appears in mirror image and is rendered with asmoother handling of paint. The same figural type also appears in The
Beheading of John the Baptist in the Rijksmuseum (fig 2). In both cases,
Rembrandt’s prototype served as a model for a figure of low social
standing—the farmer in the depiction of the parable and the executioner inthe Rijksmuseum painting, still holding his sword.
It is not possible to date the present study with any precision, although© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
Page 4 of 6

dendrochronological analysis by Ian Tyers has demonstrated that the tree
from which the panel was taken was felled around 1636, which indicatesan earliest date of use around 1643.[5]-David DeWitt© 2017 The Leiden Collection

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
Page 5 of 6Endnotes
1. Wayne Franits, Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic
Evolution (New Haven and London, 2004), 43.
2. Ernst van de Wetering “Rembrandt’s Oil Studies: New Light on an Old Problem,” inRembrandt: Quest of a Genius , ed. Ernst van de Wetering (Exh. cat. Amsterdam, Museum
Het Rembrandthuis; Berlin, Gemäldegalerie) (Zwolle, 2006), 178–207.
3. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, ca. 1645, oil on panel, 19.5 × 15.5 cm, NationalGallery, Oslo, inv. no. 1363, formerly Chr. Langaard collection; Rembrandt School,Head ofan Old Man, oil on panel, 20.9 × 17.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson
Collection, no. 476; Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, oil on panel, 21.5 × 18.5 cm,
present location unknown, formerly Matsukata Collection, Tokyo; Rembrandt School,Studyof a Head, oil on panel, 19.5 × 16.3 cm, present location unknown, formerly with art dealer
Landry, Paris, 1952.
4. The museum attributes the work to Dou and, improbably, Rembrandt. Its landscapebackground draws heavily on the style of Hercules Seghers (1589/90–1633/38), whose work
was owned by Rembrandt and would have been present in his studio. The theme is drawn
from Matthew 13:44, and from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas 109.
5. Ian Tyers, dendrochronology report, November 2010; this source of oak became unavailable
after 1650.

Provenance(Sale, Tajan, Paris, 15 December 2008, no. 56 [Salomon Lilian B. V., Amsterdam, 2008]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

VersionsVersions and Copies
1. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, ca. 1645, oil on panel, 19.5 x 15.5 cm, NationalGallery, Oslo, inv. no. 1363; formerly Chr. Langaard collection.

2. Rembrandt School, Head of an Old Man , oil on panel, 20.9 x 17.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum© 2017 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Study of a Man with Curly Hair
Page 6 of 6of Art, John G. Johnson Collection, no. 476.

3. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, oil on panel, 21.5 x 18.5 cm, present location unknown,
formerly Matsukata Collection, Tokyo.

4. Rembrandt School, Study of a Head, oil on panel, 19.5 x 16.3 cm, present location unknown,
formerly with art dealer Landry, Paris, 1952.

Versions Notes

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertical, straight-grained, rectangular Eastern Baltic oak derived
from a tree felled after 1636, has bevels along all four sides.[1] The panel is unthinned anduncradled, and has machine tool marks along the left and right bevels. The panel reverse has
two paper label remnants, paper tape, and a numerical inscription, but no wax seals, importstamps, stencils or panel maker’s marks.
A light-colored ground has been extremely thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been applied
as a thin glaze along the background, which allows the light underlayer to show through. Only theapplication of the darkest paint, most noticeably the eyes and nostrils but also the beard andbase of the neck, is visible as slightly raised, rounded brushwork. Very few of the flesh tones andfacial features are visible as radio-opaque forms in the X-radiograph, due either to the pigments
employed or the X-radiograph exposure. Either way, the extreme thinness is noteworthy.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. No
compositional changes are revealed in the images, in the X-radiograph, or as pentimenti. Furtherinvestigation at wavelengths that penetrate further into the infrared range may be useful.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2009 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on Ian Tyers’s 2010 dendrochronology report.

© 2017 The Leiden Collection