page_title: Abraham de Vries (painter)
section_title: Work
hierarchical_section_title: Abraham de Vries (painter) / Work
context_page_description: Abraham de Vries was a Dutch painter who was one of the leading portraitists of his age. As he led a peripatetic lifestyle and worked in France, Antwerp and the Dutch Republic his stylistic qualities are difficult to pin down.
context_section_description: Abraham de Vries is mainly known for his portraits even though he reportedly also created some landscapes.  An example of his landscapes is an early Mountainous landscape with a wooden bridge (1613, Prentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), a drawing which was probably created during a stay in Lyon in France.
  His early works are reminiscent of the works of contemporary artists in Amsterdam and The Hague such as Thomas de Keyser and Jan van Ravesteyn.  In his 1621 Self portrait, the artist depicted himself as learned painter.  In the late 1620s to the 1630s there was clearly a Flemish influence recognizable in his portraits as is seen in the Portrait of Simon de Vos of 1634 (Maagdenhuismuseum, Antwerp).  This portrait of the Antwerp painter Simon de Vos shows a dynamism akin to that visible in the portraits of van Dyck. A similar Flemish feistiness can be seen in his Portrait of a man holding a ring of 1629 (Musée du Petit Palais, Avignon).  The textured description of skin and soft handling of hair from the mid 1630s onwards show the influence of Antwerp portrait painters of that period.  The combination in his portraits of Dutch and Flemish characteristics is not unlike what is apparent in the work of artists working in The Hague such as Adriaen Hanneman.
  By the 1640s the Amsterdam art scene had come under the spell of Rembrandt's portrait art. Rembrandt’s portraits emphasized the character and personality of his sitters through their physiognomy rather than by means of symbols and iconography. Abraham de Vries could also not resist the influence of this new painting style in his portraits.  The influence was so strong that his Portrait of a Dutch gentleman (1647, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne) was for some time mistakenly attributed to Rembrandt.
  Abraham de Vries also painted so-called 'regents group portraits', i.e. group portraits of the board of trustees, called regents or regentesses, of a charitable organization or guild. An example of his original approach to this genre, which was very popular in Dutch Golden Age painting, is his Regents of the Burgerweeshuis orphanage in Amsterdam (1633, Amsterdam Museum).  Pictured in the group portrait are the regents who were responsible for the major renovation of the Burgerweeshuis orphanage in Amsterdam during the years 1630-1634. The arrangement of the composition is very original: de Vries split the regents in two groups: one group on the left-hand side is composed of standing figures and the other on the right-hand side consists of sitting figures. In the background in the middle of the composition a member of staff of the orphanage leads a small orphan girl into the room and thereby links up the two groups. Abraham de Vries may have been the first artist to introduce a child as an "attribute" in a regents group portrait. The portrait of the regents is still ‘’in situ’’ on the wall for which it was designed in the regent's room of the orphanage. 
  In the Portrait of a Gentleman (1630-1640, Beecroft Art Gallery) de Vries employed a unique technique to render the sitter's broad lace collar: he applied the paint with his thumb. Close examination reveals his thumbprints still visible in the paint. He painted several wedding portraits in which the man is situated on the left and the woman on the right, which was unusual for that time.
caption: Portrait of a Gentleman
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