Portrait of a Man (Possible Self-Portrait)
Attributed to Pieter Verelst(Dordrecht 1616/18 – ca. 1678 Hulst?)

ca. 1645–50
oil on panel
37.3 x 31.8 cm
PV-100© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Man (Possible Self-Portrait)
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How to cite
Rahusen, Henriette. “Portrait of a Man (Possible Self-Portrait)” (2017). 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 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.

The earnest yet slightly bemused young man in this sympathetic portrait bust engages

Comparative Figures

the viewer with a direct gaze. His smooth face and wispy moustache suggest that he isin his late twenties or early thirties, an age appropriate for the stylish notched black
beret atop his brown curls. The light illuminating his face and the white, flat collar of
his chemise enlivens the scene by accenting the gold or silver piping of his jacket.
The base of a Corinthian column, visible at the right in the darkened background, is a
pictorial element indicating that—despite his relative youth—he is a man ofsubstance and gravitas.
Tree ring analysis of the panel reveals that the portrait was painted sometime after
1645, a date consistent with the style of the sitter’s long, curly hair and the shirt’s flatcollar.[1] The manner in which the sitter gazes directly at the viewer suggests that thepainting could be a self-portrait, perhaps patterned after one of Rembrandt’s selfportraits of the late 1630s and early 1640s (fig 1). Nevertheless, the smooth, refinedFig 1. Rembrandt van Rijn, SelfPortrait at Age 34, 1640, oil on canvas,
102 x 80 cm, National Gallery,London, inv. no. NG672, © National
Gallery, London / Art Resource, NY

brushwork is uncharacteristic of an artist trained in Rembrandt’s workshop. Thisdistinctive stylistic blend of smooth classicism and a Rembrandtesque pose is afundamental reason for attributing this work to Pieter Verelst, who, in the late 1640s,
would have been about 30 years old, the approximate age of the sitter.[2] The selfportrait hypothesis is strengthened by the existence of another bust-length portrait,
also attributed to Verelst (fig 2), in which the same young man similarly engages theviewer with bold self-confidence.[3]Verelst began his artistic career in his native Dordrecht, probably in the mid-1630s.
Although it is unclear from whom he learned his craft, given the many connections
that existed between Dordrecht artists and Rembrandt’s workshop during the 1630s
Fig 2. Pieter Hermansz Verelst,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Portrait of a Man (Possible Self-Portrait)
Page 3 of 5and 1640s, it is probable that he was trained by an artist familiar with Rembrandt’s
stylistic innovations.[4] Verelst, who joined the Dordrecht painters’ guild in 1638, wasa versatile, even eclectic artist who painted a wide range of subjects in different

Portrait of a Young Man, Head andShoulders, Wearing a Hat with a RedFeather, ca. 1645, oil on canvas, 63.5 x53 cm, Sotheby’s, London, 5 April
1995, lot 192

styles, among them portraits, tronies, and low-life genre scenes. In 1643 Verelst
moved to The Hague, where he joined the Guild of Saint Luke that very year. It is notknown why he moved there, but it may have been because he believed he could findclients for portraits among those associated with the States General or the court of
Stadholder Frederik Hendrik, the Prince of Orange. Indeed, the formal portraits thatVerelst painted in The Hague attest to his considerable skill as an insightful
portraitist, and his ability to adapt to the courtlier stylistic model of Adriaen
Hanneman (ca. 1603/4–71).
After moving to The Hague, Verelst continued to paint images of scholars andhermits, as well as tronies of young boys or old, bearded men situated against a dark
background in a Rembrandtesque manner. The portrait in the Leiden Collection fits
entirely within that tradition. Although the face is smoothly modeled and the sitter hasa dignified and elegant presence, as is appropriate for Verelst’s portrait style in TheHague, the manner in which light falls on his face and the way the beret shades hisforehead and eyes fully reflects Rembrandt’s manner. If indeed this is a self-portrait,
Verelst’s proud bearing provides a glimpse into the artist’s solid sense of self, one thatundoubtedly reflects the optimism he felt in his new artistic circumstances.
In 1656, Verelst’s self-assurance allowed him to join Hanneman and 46 other artists
in breaking away from the Guild of Saint Luke to establish the Confrerie Pictura, a
new professional organization. While Hanneman served as the Confrerie’s firstdeacon, the membership regarded Verelst with sufficient respect to have him follow
in Hanneman’s footsteps and elect him deacon in 1659–60. Unfortunately, Verelst’scareer did not end on a positive note. In November 1668 debts and bankruptcy
precipitated Verelst’s sudden departure from The Hague, leaving his creditors a mere
410 guilders worth of possessions.[5] Despite the economic decline at the end of hiscareer, this striking portrait is a testament to his artistic skills.

- Henriette Rahusen, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPortrait of a Man (Possible Self-Portrait)
Page 4 of 5Endnotes
1. See, for example, Frans Hals, René Descartes, ca. 1649, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, on
permanent loan from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (NCG inv. 998).
2. The painting was attributed to Verelst when it was sold by Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2007, lot555.
3. The second portrait, sold at Sotheby’s, New York, in 1995, was attributed to Verelst by Werner
Sumowski. See Sotheby’s, London, Old Master Paintings, sale 5201, 5 April 1995, lot 192. Catalogue
notes indicate that Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Hat with a Red Feather wasformerly attributed to Govaert Flinck (1615–60). In 1983, Sumowski reattributed it to Verelst, dating
the portrait to the period when Verelst’s work revealed the strong influence of Rembrandt’s work of the1630s. See Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, 6 vols. (Landau and Pfalz, 1983–94), 1:83, 97 color repro.
4. The influence of Rembrandt is evident in the work of a number of artists in Dordrecht in the 1630s and1640s, including those who are not documented as the master’s students. Two artists from Dordrecht
who did study with Rembrandt are Ferdinand Bol (1616–80) and Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–78).
The impact of Rembrandt’s style, however, is also evident in the paintings of Paulus Lesire(1612–54/56) and Benjamin Gerrits Cuyp (1612–52).
5. G. H. Veth, “Aanteekeningen Omtrent Eenige Dordrechtsche Schilders, XXXIX Pieter Hermansz.
Verelst en zijne zonen,” Oud Holland 14, no. 2 (1896): 99–112.

ProvenancePaul Hermann von Schwabach (1867–1938), Berlin, as by Rembrandt.
Frederick Mont (a.k.a. Adolf Frederick Mondschein), New York, 1950, as by Rembrandt.
Sdr. Charles Turner Collection, as by Rembrandt.
(Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2007, no 555, as attributed to Pieter Verelst [Salomon Lilian B.
V., Amsterdam]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Technical Summary© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Portrait of a Man (Possible Self-Portrait)
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The support, a single plank of vertically grained, rectangular eastern Baltic oak, is derived from a tree felled
after 1645, and has a conjectural usage date of 1645–77. The wedge-shaped plank is slightly wider thantypical eastern Baltic boards and has bevels on all four sides, a steep narrow one along the left edge.[1] The
unthinned and uncradled panel has machine tool marks. A milky wax coating has been applied to the panel
reverse and extends onto the panel edges. A paper label remnant has been applied over the wax but there are
no wax seals, import stamps, stencils, inscriptions or panel maker’s marks.
A light-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied followed by paint built up in successive thin layers
through the background and figure’s hair and hat, with thin paste consistency through the figure’s face, andwith low impasto highlights along the edge of the figure’s garment. Drying cracks have formed through all
but the more opaquely applied flesh tones, but are most pronounced in a vertical band along the left third of
the composition.
No underdrawing or compositional changes are readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000
nanometers, in the X-radiograph, or as pentimenti.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition and remains in a good state ofpreservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. As viewed from the reverse. The characterization of the wood is based on Ian Tyers’s November 2010
dendrochronology report.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection