The Monogrammist IS

In the family collection of the present owner for at least two generations.

The following condition report is provided by Rebecca Gregg who is an independant specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. The painting is in excellent condition. The single member oak panel with two horizontal batons is in very good condition. The texture on the surface suggests that a canvas has been stretched over the panel during the preparation stages before the painting was begun. The paint layers are in very good condition, there are no recent damages or loss and the adhesion between the paint and ground layers and the support appears excellent. There is a small area of raised paint located under the sitter's chin and isolated areas of raised paint in the right half. There is a planar deformation in the lower right quadrant, this area has been repainted. There are very minor small retouching located in the shadows of the sitter's face. The edges of the painting have been extended with paint, probably due to changes to the sight size of the frame. There is a layer of natural resin varnish present that fluoresces strongly.
"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 is a rare and exciting addition to the small oeuvre of this extraordinary painter, enlightening us further to his likely origin and further enhancing his reputation as a portrait painter capable of supreme realism. The physiognomy of this aged woman is clearly not one familiar in the Netherlands and, to the contrary, seems wholly eastern European, thus adding further weight to those arguing for the artist's origin in or near the Baltic states.

Von Frimmel, in 1904, was the first to publish a group of works by this hand, the earliest dated 1633, the latest 1658, and he thus established his artistic identity.¹ More recently Prof. Werner Sumowski has reopened the discussion over his identity and likely origin.² Most of the artist's portraits follow the same pattern, showing a stern-faced figure in bust- or half-length, warmly wrapped in hat and fur-trimmed coat, the sitter's expression, conveyed with such sophistication, allowing an insightful glimpse into their circumstance. The distant-gaze of the present sitter is one lost in thought but resolute; her time-weathered skin, the unnatural growth over the eye, and her bulbous nose and lips indicative of the harsh years that have gone before. The portrait may be closely compared with a similar depiction of an old lady in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.³

 We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer of the R.K.D. for endorsing the attribution to the Monogrammist I.S. on the basis of photographs.

1. "Von Monogrammisten IS", in Blatten für Gemäldekunde, I, 1904, pp. 132-33.
2. W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. IV, Landau-Pfalz 1983, p. 2548 ff.
3. Ibid, p. 2555.