© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Reading
Page 2 of 8Young Man Readingca. 1650
oil on panel
48.5 x 38.6 cm
signed in highlight and shadow, in light and dark
paint, lower left: “I.V.Loo.”
JvL-100

Jacob van Loo(Sluis 1614 – 1670 Paris)

How to cite
Libby, Alexandra. “Young Man Reading” (2017). Revised by Alexandra Libby (2018). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue,
3rded.

EditedbyArthur

K.

WheelockJr.

andLaraYeager-Crasselt.

NewYork,

2020–23.

https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archived December 2023).
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.

When Jacob van Loo turned his brush to the human figure, his subject was usually the[1]female nude.

Comparative Figures

He was known for orienting these nudes on a vertical canvas andenveloping them in soft light that allowed shadows to dance across the exquisitely
rendered fabrics barely covering their luminous skin.[2] He nuanced their gestures andfacial expressions so much that one could easily imagine their thoughts andpersonalities. With a similar sensitivity to his subject’s psychological character, Van
Loo has here captured the intense concentration of a young man reading.
The youth, who sits on a chest or bench while leaning on a foot warmer (fig 1), grips
a thin book or manuscript, the spine of which he has fully inverted, as he carefully
studies its text. The room is entirely brown, with its floor-to-ceiling wood panels,
doors, and floor, making it difficult to interpret either spatially or functionally. It may

Fig 1. Detail of foot warmer in
Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid(detail), ca. 1660, oil on canvas, 45.5 x
41 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, SKA-2344

be a transitional space between the inside and outside, such as a mudroom or entrance
hall to a home. Hanging on the wall are two musical instruments, probably a violin
and a viola, that are partially covered by clothes, suggesting that the young man may
be waiting for a music lesson, and the text he is studying is a musical score.
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Reading
Page 3 of 8Music was a passion of the privileged elite, and the young man’s fashionable clothing,indeed, identifies him as part of the upper class.[3] Typically, however, artists focusedon musical ensembles already engaged in the act, rather than on a musician preparing
for a lesson. Such scenes, including one depicted by Van Loo in the mid-1660s (fig 2), offered the opportunity to show amorous interactions between men and women
given that the playing of music metaphorically referred to the unison of lovers’ hearts.
Although Van Loo’s decision to picture the boy studying is, thus, unusual, it was
likely inspired by two of his previous works related to the composition: Man Holding
a Woman on His Knees, which is signed and dated 1650, and Scholar in His Studyfrom the early 1650s (fig 3).[4] In the former work, a man and woman carouse in awood-paneled room highly reminiscent of the space in Young Man Reading. In theFig 2. Jacob van Loo, MusicalCompany, ca. 1665/66, oil on canvas,
73.3 x 66 cm, Thyssen-BornemiszaCollection, Madrid, inv. no. 1930.47

latter work, a young scholar in a nearly identical pose toLeiden Collection young man
sits in a room cluttered with papers, books, scientific instruments, and othercuriosities, keeping with traditional representations of scholars and academics.
Despite the similarity of these works—especially the figure of the youth, whom Van
Loo appears to have plucked from one composition for the other—each of the threescenes has a very different energy. The amorousness of the couple in Man Holding a
Woman on His Knees and disorder of the scholar’s room in Scholar in His Study endow
the paintings with a dynamic energy that is entirely unlike the sense of quietude andcontemplation that pervades Young Man Reading. That Van Loo executed the Leiden

Fig 3. Jacob van Loo, Scholar in His
Study, early 1650s, oil on canvas, 61.5
x 85 cm, Schloss Ehrenburg, Coburg,
Große Galerie, R10, inv. no. E M 47.

Collection work after the other paintings is confirmed by technical analysis. Infrared
reflectography shows that the young man’s proper right foot was originally smaller
and located slightly higher than that of the youth in Scholar in His Study. Van Loo,perhaps utilizing a now-lost preliminary drawing, revised the boy’s position whenmaking this work (see technical notes).[5]The tranquil isolation of the figure in Young Man Reading is also unusual in its focus
on a young man reading by himself. Occasionally in Dutch art one finds depictions ofyoung boys reading books in the presence of a mentor or instructor (fig 4), but theseare few in number.[6] Generally, individuals reading books (as opposed to letters) areelderly women,[7] scholars in their studies,[8] or saints, such as Paul or Jerome.[9] VanLoo’s painting thus occupies a special place in genre imagery of reading. Showing
neither scholar, nor saint, nor student, it is a representation of the joy and pleasure ofreading, and its ability to captivate and engross the mind.

Fig 4. Gerrit Dou, Prince Rupert of thePalatinate and an Elderly Man(Probably His Teacher) as Samuel andEli, 1631/1632, oil on canvas, 102.9 x
88.7 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles, inv. no. 84.PA.570- Alexandra Libby, 2017; revised in 2018

© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Reading
Page 4 of 8Endnotes
1. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols.
(Amsterdam, 1718–21; revised edition published in The Hague, 1753; reprinted in Amsterdam, 1980),
3, 172; Albert Blankert, et al., Dutch Classicism in Seventeenth-Century Paintings (Exh. cat. Rotterdam,Museum Boijmans van Beuningen; Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut) (Rotterdam, 1999),
no. 26.
2. Wayne Franits, Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution (NewHaven, 2004), 176.
3. His brass-buttoned jacket, knee-length pants with piping around the openings, and tall white knee socks
reflect a French-inspired style popular in the late 1640s and 1650s. It was also in vogue at that time tobutton only the upper part of the jacket so as to reveal the white shirt underneath. The style of the hat
resting beside the young man, with its tall, cylindrical shape, is characteristic of the 1650s. See, J.H. Der
Kinderen-Besier, Spelevaart der Mode: De Kledij onzer voorouders in de zeventiende eeuw (Amsterdam,1950), 135, 137.
4. Scholar in His Study was previously attributed (with question) to the artist Mattheus von Helmont byHerbert Brunner and Lorenz Zeelig in Coburg Schloss Ehrenburg (Munich, 1990), 53–54, repro.
However, David Mandrella has convincingly given the painting to Van Loo in his catalogue raisonné.
See David Mandrella, Jacob van Loo, 1614–1670 (Paris, 2011), 138, no. P.28; on Man Holding aWoman on His Knees, see 136, no. P.24. Mandrella’s entry on Leiden Collection painting says that thepainting dates to the early 1660s (138–9, no. P.29). However, correspondence with the author confirmsthat this date is a typo and ought to have read early 1650s, as it does in the author’s essay on the artist(78).
5. The boy may depict an individual also depicted by Van Loo’s brother-in-law, the portraitist Martinus
Lengele (d. 1668). See Martinus Lengele, Portrait of a Young Man Wearing Armor, oil on canvas, 70 x
55.4 cm, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague, inv. no. 301.
6. For Jan Lievens (1607–74), see Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.ed., Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered(Exh. cat. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum;
Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) (New Haven, 2009), 138–39, no. 29.
7. Examples of old women reading are found in the oeuvres of Gerrit Dou (1613–75), Rembrandt van Rijn
(1606–69), and Ferdinand Bol (1616–80), among others. See Ronni Baer in Gerrit Dou, 1613–1675:
Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, ed. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. (Exh. cat. Washington, D.C.,
National Gallery of Art; London, Dulwich Picture Gallery; The Hague, Mauritshuis) (New Haven,2000), 66–67, no. 2; Josua Bruyn et al., A Corpus of Rembrandt Paintings, vol. 1: 1625–1631, Stichting
Foundation Rembrandt Research Project (The Hague,1982), 356; and Sabine Schulze, ed., Leselust:
Niederländische Malerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer (Exh. cat. Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle) (Frankfurt,© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Reading
Page 5 of 81993), 142–43, no. 7.
8. For examples by Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723) and Gerrit Dou, see Volker Manuth, Wisdom,
Knowledge and Magic: The Image of the Scholar in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art (Exh. cat. Kingston,Agnes Etherington Art Centre) (Kingston, 1997), 44–45, no. 9; and Sabine Schulze, ed., Leselust:
Niederländische Malerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer (Exh. cat. Frankfurt am Main, Schirn KunsthalleFrankfurt) (Stuttgart, 1993), no. 23, 178–79, no. 23.
9. Jan Lievens (1607–74) painted an image of Saint Paul (see Volker Manuth, ed., Wisdom, Knowledge andMagic: The Image of the Scholar in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art [Exh. cat. Kingston, Agnes
Etherington Art Centre] [Kingston, 1997], no. 23, 64–65, no. 23), and Hendrick Bloemaert (ca.
1601–72) painted an image of Saint Jerome (see Sabine Schulze, ed., Leselust: Niederländische Malerei
von Rembrandt bis Vermeer [Exh. cat. Frankfurt am Main, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt] [Stuttgart,1993], no. 5, 136–39, no. 5). In images of the four Evangelists, Saint Mark is usually portrayed reading.
See Hendrick ter Brugghen’s (1588–1629) St. John in Sabine Schulze, ed., Leselust: NiederländischeMalerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer (Exh. cat. Frankfurt am Main, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt)(Stuttgart, 1993), no. 18, 164–65, 167.

ProvenanceAntoine Delacoux de Marivault (Marivaux) (1771–1846), Paris (sale, Paris, 27 January–3 February
1806, no. 31; sale, Paris, 10–11 June 1806, no. 58).
Frédéric Quilliet, Paris (his sale, Paris, 15–17 April 1818, no. 200).
Sale, Paris, 2–3 May 1833, no. 101.
Charles Auguste Louis Joseph de Morny, Duc de Morny (1811–1865) (pseud. M. de Saint-Rémy), by
1839.
Dufraisne collection, Cambrai, by 1876.
Anatole Demidoff (1812–1870), Principe di San Donato, Villa Demidoff, Palais de San Donato,Florence; by descent to his nephew Paul Demidoff (1839–1885) (his sale, 15 March–13 April 1880, no.
1100).
Private collection.
[Wildenstein & Co., New York, 2007; Salomon Lilian B. V., Amsterdam, 2007].
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

Exhibition History© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Reading
Page 6 of 8Angers, Societe d’Agriculture, des Sciences et Arts d’Angers, “Exposition de Peinture et Sculpture
Anciennes,” 31 May–30 June 1839, no. 793 and no. 16 [lent by Duc de Morny (pseud. M. de SaintRémy)].
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, on loan with the permanent collection, August
2009–November 2016 [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 LeidenCollection,” 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 [lent by the presentowner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces ofThe Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by the present owner].

References
Société d’Agriculture, Sciences et Arts d’Angers. Exposition de Peinture et Sculpture Anciennes. Exh. cat.
supplement vol., Angers, 1839, 68, no. 793.
Société d’Agriculture, Sciences et Arts d’Angers. Souvenirs de l’Exposition de Peinture et Sculpture
Anciennes de 1839. With illustrations by Pierre Hawke. Angers, 1840, 31–32, no. 16.
Michiels, Alfred. Histoire de la peinture flamande depuis ses debuts jusqu’en 1864. 10 vols. 2nd reviseded., Paris, 1876, 10: 34.
Von Wurzbach, Alfred. Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon; auf Grund archivalischer Forschungen
Bearbeitet. 3 vols. Vienna, 1906–11, 2: 64.
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Benjamin Peronnet et al., eds. Répertoire des tableaux vendus en France auXIXe siècle. 1 vol. to date. Los Angeles, 1998 1: 650.
Mandrella, David. Jacob van Loo, 1614–1670. Paris, 2011, 25, no. 29, 26, 76, 78, 138–39.
Noorman, Judith F. J. “The unconventional career of Jacob van Loo (1614–70), painter in Amsterdamand Paris.” PhD diss. Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2013, 288, no. 40.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Rembrandt and His Time: China and the Dutch Republic in the Golden Age.” In
Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 10;15, no. 50. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat. Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017
© 2024 The Leiden CollectionYoung Man Reading
Page 7 of 8

McCarthy, Alexa. “Young Man Reading.” In Masterpieces of The Leiden Collection: The Age ofRembrandt. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Dominique Surh, 76, no. 28. Exh. cat. Paris, Musée du Louvre.
Paris, 2017.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Young Man Reading.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces of The LeidenCollection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 120–21; 184, no. 50. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat.
Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund. Shanghai, 2017, 130–31.
Yeager-Crasselt, Lara. “Young Man Reading.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces ofThe Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 114–15; 235, no. 24. Translated by Daria Babichand Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State
Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.
Blanc, Jan. “Being Modern, Being Dutch: The Seventeenth-Century Invention of the Golden Age.” InRembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age. Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Muséedu Louvre. Edited by Blaise Ducos and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 42. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]
Ducos, Blaise, and Lara Yeager-Crasselt, eds. Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre. Exh. cat. Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu
Dhabi. London, 2019, 156, no. 76. [Exhibition catalogue also published in French and Arabic.]

Versions
Versions and Copies

1. Pierre Hawke, after Jacob van Loo, L’Étudiant, line engraving, in Souvenirs de l’Exposition de Peinture etSculpture Anciennes de 1839 (Angers, 1840), no. 16.

Technical Summary
The support is a rectangular composite panel comprised of two radially cut, vertically grained Baltic oak
planks of different widths. The vertical panel join is located to the right of center and passes through thefigure’s proper left thigh. The planks derive from the same tree with an earliest fell date of 1627, and thepainting may be given a plausible creation date from 1635 on.[1] The panel has been thinned and cradled andoak blocks have been inserted between the upper and lower ends of the vertical cradle members to reinforce
the support. There are two paper labels and two handwritten inscriptions, but no wax seals, import stamps,© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Young Man Reading
Page 8 of 8

stencils, machine toolmarks or panel maker’s marks.
A creamy white ground has been thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been applied thinly and smoothly
along the majority of the painting and with more refined, opaque, slightly raised brushwork along thehighlights of the flesh tones, the white of the shirt, stockings, and decorative details of the hat of the seatedfigure, and along the edge of the book being read. The figure’s garment folds have been created using varying
paint translucency, and the highlights of the jacket and trousers have been created by allowing the lightcolored ground to show through the thin brown wash, which contrasts with the darker opaque areas ofbrowns and grays.
The painting is signed in highlight and shadow in light and dark paint along the lower left corner, but isundated.
Infrared images captured at 900–1700 nanometers detected underdrawing along the figure’s chin and hands.
Dark lines along the upper contour of the drapery at the far left and short lines around it appear to be above
the paint, not underdrawn. Underpainting appears as a very loosely painted dark shape where the door ispresently located, possibly suggesting a fabric previously hung to the right of the door. A pentimento along
the boy’s proper right foot indicates it was originally smaller and located slightly higher.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2007 and remains in goodcondition.[2]Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on Peter Klein’s 2011 dendrochronology report and anunsigned and undated (possibly August 2011) examination report prepared by the Paintings
Conservation Department, J. Paul Getty Museum.
2. Entry based on an examination report prepared by Yvonne Szafran, head of paintings conservation, J.
Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2011, and additional information provided by e-mail by DeviOrmond, associate paintings conservator, J. Paul Getty Museum.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection