Jan van Bijlert Utrecht 1597/8 - 1671

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The oak panel is of good quality and condition apart from a crudely reinforced central joint. This joint has evidence of minor worm infestation . The paint layer is stable but there are excessive darkened restorations to the background , also the back of the sitters hand, his left eye, chin and neck."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The model for this work appears to be the same as the one used for several other single figures painted by Van Bijlert, such as his Shepherd with a staff in an English private collection; the Young man with a Tankard sold in London, Sotheby's, 5 July 1995, lot 212; and the Young man with a flute formerly in the Museum Narodowe w Warszawie, Warsaw (now lost).¹  These are all datable to around 1625-30, when the artist had just returned from Rome.

The positioning of the figure and especially that of the hand, may suggest that this panel once had a pendant, showing a female counterpart. Old sale records mention many such pairs made by Bijlert, such as the one with similar dimensions, representing a Soldier and a Young woman holding a letter in the collection of J.D. Nijman, which was sold in Amsterdam, Van der Schley, 16 August 1797, lots 45 and 46.²  Only one such pair remains intact, a Shepherd and Shepherdess in the Schönborn collection, Pommersfelden.³

We are grateful to Dr. Paul Huys Janssen for endorsing the attribution to Van Bijlert on the basis of photographs.

1.  See P. Huys Jansen, Jan van Bijlert, Amsterdam, 1998, p. 130, cat. no. 77, and pp. 138-39, cat. nos. 103 and 104, all reproduced plates 40, 42 and 44.
2.  Idem, p. 147, cat. nos. 128 and 129, the woman reproduced plate 72
3.  Idem, p. 134, cat. nos. 90 and 91, reproduced plates 36 and 37.