LOW COUNTRIES, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY, PORTRAIT OF A NOBLEMAN | Portrait of a nobleman

with Christian De Bruyn, Brussels.

RELATED LITERATURE
La sculpture au siècle de Rubens dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la principauté de Liège, exh. cat. Musée d'art ancient, Brussels, 1977.

The tradition of alabaster carving in the Southern Netherlands continued well into the 17th century, although its use in portraiture appears to have been rare. The sitter's ample wig, moustache and lace cravat identify him firmly as a European nobleman from the later 17th century. Compare, for example, the Portrait bust of Charles II in Bruges (Brussels, op. cit., p. 69). Similar frontal depictions in relief are found in contemporary ivory carving, notably the oeuvre of the Franco-British sculptor David Le Marchand (1674-1726), whose Portrait medallion of a gentleman with comparable treatment of the hair sold by Sotheby's London on 2 July 2013, lot 46. Using the long ovoid form of the relief to full effect, the sculptor of the present work enhances the immediacy of his portrait with the Baroque trope of a theatrical curtain.