School of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, mid-1640s

Peter Montgomery (1909-1988), Northern Ireland, by 1961;
By whom anonymously offered, London, Christie's, 1 July 1966, lot 81 (as Workshop of Rembrandt, a Portrait of Titus van Rijn), unsold at 2,800 Guineas;
By whom anonymously sold, London, Christie's, 21 July 1972, lot 81 (as Barent Fabritius),  for 1,500 Guineas to Howard;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 9 July 1982, lot 87 (as Barent Fabritus);
Acquired by the father of the present owner before 1993 (on consignment with Heide Hübner, Würzburg, 1993, and offered, London, Christie's, 13 December 2000, lot 48 (as Drost), estimate £200,000-300,000, unsold);
Thence by descent.

 

Belfast Art Gallery, Pictures from Ulster Homes, May - July 1961, no. 13 (as a portrait of Titus van Rijn);
Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, on loan (inv. dep. 553).

W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau–Pfalz 1983, vol. II, (1984), p. 1297, no. 855, reproduced p. 1338 (as Samuel van Hoogstraeten);
E. Mai, 'Neue erkenntisse zum Werk von Kalf, Victors, Hoogstraten', Kölner Museums Bulletin. Berichte und Forschungen aus den Museen der Stadt Köln, 2, 1988, pp. 16-18 (as Samuel van Hoogstraeten or Willem Drost);
B. Schaefer, in E .Mai (ed.), Das Kabinett des Sammlers, Cologne 1993, p.110-11, no. 43, reproduced (as Willem Drost);
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau–Pfalz 1983, vol. VI (1994), p. 3615, no. no. II Kat-Nr 855, reproduced  p. 3665 (as Willem Drost);
J. Bikker, Willem Drost (1633-1658). A Rembrandt Pupil in Amsterdam, Rome and Venice, doctoral dissertation, University of Utrecht, 2001, pp. 220-1, no. R22 (as not by Drost but very close to signed and attributed works by Hoogstraeten);
J. Bikker, Willem Drost (1633-1659). A Rembrandt Pupil in Amsterdam and Venice, New Haven & London 2005, p. 154, no. R23, reproduced (as not by Willem Drost, but very close to signed and attributed works by Samuel van Hoogstraeten).

The following condition report is provided by Sarah Walden, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a fairly old lining and stretcher. The edges of the lining canvas behind show that the liner used a discarded painted canvas to line it with. There is a fine old craquelure, which is even throughout. The present varnish is not very recent and under ultra violet light there are just one or two visible retouchings in the upper background. There is no sign of accidental damage elsewhere. Various layers of sometimes scumbled paint can be seen across the head, with others over the hat, hair and drapery. Various under layers are visible in the face, perhaps partially uncovered in the past. The build up of layers of course is characteristic of Rembrandt's world, although the master himself worked in quite another way. This report was not done under laboratory conditions.
"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 has been attributed, in chronological order, to Barent Fabritius, Samuel van Hoogstraeten, and Willem Drost.  The old attribution to Barent Fabritius (and the identification of the sitter as Rembrandt's son Titus) is unconvincing.  Sumowski, who published the picture as by Hoogstraten on the basis of an old black and white photograph, was the first to suggest Willem Drost as the author (verbally, to Mai); an ascription that took root.  Recently however, Jonathan Bikker has decisively rejected this attribution, and indeed the picture does not fit in with his convincing reconstruction of Drost's oeuvre.  Bikker argues in favour of the former attribution to Samuel van Hoogstraeten, considering it to be "stylistically as well as thematically very close to signed and attributed works by Van Hoogstraeten".  He compares it in particular with three works given to Hoogstraeten, none of which are signed: the so-called self-portrait in Chapel Hill, N.E. (which was formerly given to Carel Fabritius); that formerly in the collection of Willem Russell, Amsterdam; and a so-called study of Willem Drost formerly in the collection of Ronald Cook, London.¹

While this re-attribution to Hoogstraeten deserves serious attention, this picture has stronger links to Rembrandt's workshop in the mid-1640s, when Hoogstraeten among others was a pupil, than it does to Hoogstraeten's personal style, which evolved rapidly after his return to Dordrecht.

1.  See Sumowski, under Literature, vol. II (1984), pp. 1296-7, nos 850, 852 & 853, reproduced pp. 1333, 1335 and 1336.