Flemish School, 17th century

Samuel Borchard (1868 – 1930);

His collection sale (“Sold by Order of Stuart Borchard”), New York, Parke-Bernet, 9 January 1947, lot 31 (as Anthony van Dyck);

Anonymous sale, New York, Plaza Art Galleries, 17 November 1977, lot 68 (as Anthony van Dyck);

From whom acquired by the father of the present owner. 

In this confident head study, which can be classified somewhere between an informal sketch and a finished portrait, an as yet unidentified Flemish artist employs bold, expressive brushstrokes. Specifically, the artist carries a single brushstroke along a large stretch of canvas in the white collar, a gesture which is complemented by quick, short brushstrokes which are used to build up the highlights on the forehead, cheeks and nose.

Though not directly related to a known composition, the sitter may have been a studio model, whose likeness could have been recorded in figure studies, and later incorporated into other multi-figure compositions. The practice of creating, keeping, and re-using studio studies made from life was first developed by Frans Floris in the Southern Netherlands, and later embraced by Jacob Jordaens and his Flemish contemporaries, Rubens and Anthony van Dyck. Both van Dyck and Jordaens were in Rubens' studio around 1615-20, and would have been very much aware of, and involved in the production of figure studies for communal studio use. These were often recycled in a sense, or used on numerous occasions, and seem to have functioned in certain cases as figure types which could be used repeatedly.