Utrecht School, circa 1625

The canvas has been tightly wax relined and the surface has been pressed as a result. Despite this the paint surface has been well retained and the details of the figure read very well, presenting a strong and clear image. There is a discolored area of retouching along the extreme upper right edge and some other old discolored retouches can be seen with the naked eye in the white drapery. There is a fairly prominent craquelure pattern throughout though perhaps more noticeable in the flesh tones and in the white drapery. Inspection under UV overall is hindered by a very thick varnish but does reveal a large old L shaped tear in the drapery that runs form the figure's armpit and across his forearm and some areas of retouching in the drapery and background. Offered in a decoratively carved gilt wood frame.
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This work follows the tradition of depicting half-length men smoking pipes, which was popularized by Utrecht painters like Dirck van Baburen and Gerrit van Honthorst. The compositional type was introduced into Utrecht painting sometime after 1621, which coincided with Baburen's return to the Netherlands from his important sojourn in Rome where he absorbed the new Realist style introduced by Caravaggio and later Bartolomeo Manfredi.  The focus on smoking here is especially interesting as commercial tobacco production had started in the province of Utrecht less than a decade earlier; in this painting the artist not only adapts the Caravaggesque style to fit with a Northern model and pose, but also and perhaps unwittingly points to the contemporary social and economic concerns of Utrecht.