© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Old Man Praying
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Old Man Praying
Gerrit Dou(Leiden 1613 – 1675 Leiden)

ca. 1665–70
oil on panel
18 x 12.7 cm
signed in dark paint along right edge:“GDOU” (GD in ligature)
GD-107

How to cite
Surh, Dominique. “Old Man Praying” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/old-man-praying-2/ (archived May2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

Despite the dynamic, lively touch of the artist’s brush, Gerrit Dou’s Old Man

Comparative Figures

Praying is a painting of calm, spiritual reverence. Seen from a slightly
elevated viewpoint and against an undefined backdrop, the elderly bearded
figure kneels in prayer while gazing fervently toward an unseen object ofdevotion. This undated painting relates closely to four works depicting anaged hermit that Dou executed between 1665 and 1670.[1] In each of theseother works, however, Dou included a context for the hermit’s spiritual
reverence, whether a crucifix or some other symbolic attribute related to theChristian faith.[2] For example, in Hermit Praying, 1670, in the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts (fig 1), Dou placed the hermit in a carefully articulated
environment that includes a dead tree trunk and an architectural ruin.[3] Witha rosary in hand, the hermit gazes toward the Bible on his lap. Other objects
that symbolically evoke Christian spirituality and transience—crucifix, skull,
extinguished candle, and hourglass—rest on a nearby table.[4] This imagery

Fig 1. Gerrit Dou, Hermit Praying,1670, oil on panel, 33.6 x 27cm, The Minneapolis Institute ofArts, Minneapolis, The William
Hood Dunwoody Fund, inv. 87.11© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Old Man Praying
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is also depicted in Dou’s The Hermit (1670) in the National Gallery of Art inWashington, D.C. (fig 2).
One can only speculate as to why, in the Leiden Collection painting, Dou
chose to focus exclusively on the hermit’s prayerful gesture and not include
the types of Christian attributes he included in the other paintings of hermits.
One explanation may be that Dou painted this work for a Protestant patron
who wanted an image of personal piety and commitment to faith expressed
through prayer.[5] Whatever the motivation for this focused approach to thesubject, it seems probable that Dou painted this tronie in his studio after alive model, one whom he depicted a number of times in the 1660s and1670s, including in the Minneapolis painting. The figure’s wide-set eyes,
nose, and wrinkles above his brow are distinctive features that Dou musthave found compelling for his representations of a spiritual individual.
The infrared photograph of an Old Man Praying reveals a vigorous andspontaneous undermodeling that suggests Dou painted this figure quickly

Fig 2. Gerrit Dou, The Hermit,
1670, oil on oak panel, 46 x 34.5
cm, National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., TimkenCollection, 1960.6.8

from life.(fig 3) It shows clearly that Dou modified the man’s position during
the painting process by adjusting the angle of his shoulders to a threequarter view.[6] The lively brushstrokes that Dou used to model the figure’sface are reminders of the artist’s unique ability to render forms meticulously
while maintaining a loose and free handling of the brush.[7] Dou’s
idiosyncratic, “hatching” style of brushwork is clearly visible along thehermit’s temple and nose and on the back of his hands. The energeticallyand quickly executed background, where the master applied his translucent
paint with a relatively wide brush, is visible in infrared as well as with thenaked eye.
Old Man Praying once formed part of the distinguished collection of Lothar
Franz von Schönborn (1655–1729), Elector of Mainz and Archbishop ofFig 3. Infrared photograph ofGD-107

Bamberg at Pommersfelden, one of the most important collections ofpaintings in eighteenth-century Germany. By the time Schönborn acquired
this painting in 1719, he had amassed a collection of almost one thousand
works of art, eventually owning nine paintings by Dou.[8] In 2006 the present
owner acquired this small masterpiece along with another soulful image of anelderly person, Rembrandt’s Study of a Woman in a White Cap (RR-101), atthe same Sotheby’s sale in New York.[9]- Domique Surh, 2017© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Old Man Praying
Page 4 of 8Endnotes

1. The Hermit, 1670, oil on panel, 46 x 34.5 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.,
1960.6.8; A Hermit, 1664, oil on panel, 33.5 x 27.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no.
SK-C-128; A Hermit Praying, 1670, oil on panel, 33.66 x 26.99 cm, Minneapolis Institute ofArts, The William Hood Dunwoody Fund, 87.11; A Hermit in Prayer, 1645–75, oil on panel, 25x 19 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. SK-A-88.
2. Ronni Baer, “The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675),” 3 vols. (PhD diss. New York
University, 1990), “Appendix B: Works Known from Sources Prior to 1800.”
3. Ronni Baer, “Image of Devotion: Dou’s Hermit Praying,” Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin
67 (1995): 22–33.
4. Ronni Baer, “Hermit Praying,” Gerrit Dou, 1613–1675: Master Painter in the Age ofRembrandt, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art;
London, Dulwich Picture Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis, 2000) (Zwolle, 2000), 130–31, no.
33.
5. Annegret Laabs and Christoph Scho?lzel. The Leiden fijnschilders from Dresden. Edited byChristiaan Vogelaar. Exh. cat. Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal; Dresden,Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen (Zwolle, 2000), 35–37.
6. Dominique Surh, Ilona van Tuinen, and John Twilley. “Insights from Technical Analysis on aGroup of Paintings by Gerrit Dou in the Leiden Collection.” JHNA 6, no. 1 (Winter 2014):
DOI:10.5092/jhna.2014.6.1.3.
7. Eric Jan Sluijter, De lof der schilderkunst: over schilderijen van Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) eneen traktaat van Philips Angel uit 1642 (Hilversum, 1993).
8. The present work remained at the palace of Pommersfelden for almost 150 years, until 1867.
See Catalogue de la galerie de Pommersfelden (Bamberg, 1719), no. 33; Katalog derGräflich von Schönborn’schen Bilder-Gallerie zu Pommersfelden (Würzburg, 1857), no. 541;
Otto Mündler, Catalogue de tableaux de la galerie des Cte. de Schönborn a? Pommersfelden(Paris, 1861), 23, no. 541; Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Worksof the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John
Smith, ed. and trans. Edward G. Hawke, 8 vols. (London, 1907–28), originally published asBeschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28), 1: 352, no. 29a.
9. See Provenance.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Old Man Praying
Page 5 of 8Provenance
Lothar Franz von Schönborn (1655–1729), Elector of Mainz and Archbishop of Bamberg,
Schloss Weissenstein, by 1719; by descent to Count Schönborn of Pommersfelden (his sale,Paris, 17 May 1867, no. 24 [to Bamberg for 2500 ff.]).
Vice Consul Bamberg, Brussels.
(Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2000, no. 39; sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 26January 2006, no. 15 [Otto Naumann Ltd., New York, 2006]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2006.

Exhibition History
Dublin, National Gallery of Art, on loan with the permanent collection, 1 December 2007–30
December 2009 [lent by the present owner].
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum of Art, on loan with the permanent collection, December
2009–January 2011 [lent by the present owner].
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Dutch Treat,” 11 October 2011–6 January 2012[lent by the present owner].
Leiden, Museum de Lakenhal, “Gerrit Dou: The Leiden Collection From New York,” 9March–31 August 2014 [lent by the present owner].
Paris, Museé du Louvre, “Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection: The Age of Rembrandt,” 22February–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].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden
Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lentby the present owner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by thepresent owner].

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Old Man Praying
Page 6 of 8References
Galerie de Pommersfelden. Catalogue de la Galerie de Pommersfelden, Bamberg, 1719, no.
33.
Katalog der Gräflich von Schönborn’schen Bilder-Gallerie zu Pommersfelden, Würzburg,
1857, no. 541.
Mündler, Otto. Catalogue de Tableaux [de la galerie des Cte. de Scho?nborn a?
Pommersfelden]. [Paris], 1861, 23, no. 541.
Martin, Wilhelm. “Het leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou beschouwd in verband met het
schildersleven van zijn tijd.” PhD diss. Universiteit Leiden, 1901, no. 31.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch
Painters of theSeventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translatedby Edward G. Hawke, 1: 352, no. 29a. 8 vols. London, 1907–28. Originally published as
Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28.
Baer, Ronni. “The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613–1675).” 3 vols. PhD diss. New York
University, 1990, under “Appendix B: Works Known from Sources Prior to 1800.”
Surh, Dominique, Ilona van Tuinen, and John Twilley. “Insights from Technical Analysis on aGroup of Paintings by Gerrit Dou in the Leiden Collection.” JHNA 6, no. 1 (Winter 2014): 2-5,8-9, 19, figs. 11a-b, 21, 22, 49, 50. DOI:10.5092/jhna.2014.6.1.3
Surh, Dominique. “Old Man Praying.” In Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection: The Age ofRembrandt. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Dominique Surh, 50, no. 15. Exh. cat. Paris, Muséedu Louvre. Paris, 2017.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Old Man Praying.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 76; 178, no. 28. Translated by LiYing. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund.
Shanghai, 2017, 102, 104.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Old Man Praying.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer:
Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 96–97; 234, no. 15.
Translated by Daria Babich and Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museumof Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. “Making Faces: The Development of the Tronie in SeventeenthCentury Leiden.” In Anonymous Portraits: Dutch Seventeenth-Century Tronies. Sales cat.
Nicholas Hall. New York, 2019, 24, fig. 23.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Old Man Praying
Page 7 of 8Versions
Versions and Copies

1. Gerrit Dou, An Old Hermit in a Dark Cloak, n.d., oil on panel, 14.9 x 11.6 cm, private
collection, the Netherlands, by 1940.

2. Gerrit Dou, An Old Hermit, n.d., oil on panel, 17 x 13 cm, formerly sale, Bukowskis,Stockholm, 31 May 2000, no. 396.

3. Circle of Gerrit Dou, A Bearded Old Man, n.d., oil on panel, 20. 7 x 16.6 cm, formerly sale,Christie’s, South Kensington, 12 December 1996, no. 245.

4. Gerrit Dou, Head of an Old Man, n.d., support and dimensions unknown, formerly Strauss
Collection sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 11 March 1953, no. 7.

5. Gerrit Dou, An Elderly Man, n.d., support and dimensions unknown, formerly with Kleinberger
Galleries, Paris, possibly equivalent to no. 4, above.

6. Follower of Gerrit Dou, Portrait of an Elderly Man, Bust-Length, in a Black Coat, n.d., oil onpanel, 15 x 11.6 cm, formerly sale, Bonhams, London, 20 October 2013, no. 72.

Technical Summary
The painting is executed on a vertically grained panel. The panel is made from a single oak plankof Baltic origin with a fell date between 1622 and 1638.[1] The panel is in plane, but the verticaledges are not perfectly square, as they curve inward slightly in the upper corners. The reverse of
the panel is beveled along all four edges, but the bevel is 1.0 to 1.5 cm narrower along the left
and right sides than along the top and bottom, suggesting the left and right edges have been
trimmed.
The panel was prepared with a light-colored ground that was thinly and evenly applied. The painthas been built up in successive layers. It is so thin in the background that it allows the ground toshow through. Dou used low impasto in the folds of the sitter’s robe and his beard. He createdthe wrinkles in the sitter’s brow with deep horizontal brushstrokes. A pentimento shows that Dou
shifted the outer contour of the sitter’s proper left sleeve slightly to the left. This is shown moreclearly with infrared reflectography and photographs,[2] which also indicate that he made changes
to the fingers of the sitter’s clasped hands. The infrared images show parallel diagonal scratches
through ground in the sitter’s proper right arm and his face.
The painting is in good condition. The paint and ground are fractured and chipped along theedges, which is further indication that the panel may have been trimmed. In addition to theselosses, there are minor paint losses in the drapery and along the edges.

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Technical Summary Endnotes

1. Ian Tyers, dendochronological report, November 2010. In an undated dendochronologicalreport, Dr. Peter proposed an earliest felling date of 1623 and a plausible creation date of1631.
2. Infrared photographs were taken at 780, 850, and 1000 nm. The parameters of the infrared
reflectography are unknown.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection