Sir Peter Paul Rubens

By descent to the Earls of Jersey, Osterley Park, Middlesex (according to a label on the reverse);
With James Bourlet & Sons, Ltd., London, inv. no. E 4594 (according to a label on the reverse).

On loan to the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, inventory no. 229313-5 (as Circle of Peter Paul Rubens).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This oil painting on paper laid on wood has been fairly recently cleaned and restored yet the varnish is extremely thick and the restoration is not particularly focused, and a more refined restoration could be applied. The paint layer and the paper mounted on panel, for the most part, are stable. There is one slight blister in the right side of the collar and a very thin crack in the panel in the upper center. A restoration extends in from the left side of head to the mouth addressing a very thin scratch and there is some thinness on the right side of the mouth, yet for the most part the face itself is unrestored. Under ultraviolet light there are some rather loose, aimless retouches visible in the background which could be applied more accurately. An older varnish may obscure earlier retouches, and it is more than likely that each corner was originally curved and the painting has more recently been turned into a rectangular shape. Despite the thinness in the background and some pentiment in the collar, the condition is quite respectable, and this a picture would improve if restored again.
"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."

This portrait of a young gentleman, until recently obscured under a dirty varnish, is a handsome new addition to Rubens' oeuvre, and may be dated to circa 1604-1605, when the artist was working for Vicenzo I Gonzaga on the triad of paintings, The Holy Trinity Adored by the Gonzagas, in the Jesuit church of Santa Trinità, Mantua.  Indeed, the directness and immediacy of the present portrait sketch is entirely consistent with the heads of the three young Gonzaga princes, Vicenzo, Ferninando, and Francesco, which exist now only as fragments, but which were originally intended as full-length portraits within the context of the altar.¹  Just like the princes, the gentleman in the present portrait, with his slightly parted lips and lively eyes, appears as though he is caught in action. 

Given the soft youthful features of the sitter in the present portrait, it is tempting to try to identify him as a member of the Gonzaga family, who tended to have a "baby-face appearance"² (see, for example, the drawing of Ferdinando Gonzaga in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm); however, there is no documentary evidence to substantiate such a connection

1. Vicenzo Gonzaga is now the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna; Ferdinando Gonzaga is now in the Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Parma; and Francesco Gonzaga is now in a private collection.
2.  F. Huemer, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XIX, Portraits, vol. I, Brussels 1977, p. 30.