ATTRIBUTED TO WYBRAND DE GEEST1592 - 1661 | Portrait of a young man, standing full-length, in a red costume with elaborate gold trimmings and with lavishly decorated gloves

Oil on panel; dated upper left: Ao 1631

- Jean-Baptiste Eugène de Thiac (1806-1892), a 1800 note indicates that the painting was bought more than thirty years before (Estate inventory in 1892 : two portaits by Cuyp, one representing William III valued 5.000 f.)

The painting seems to be in a good condition. The panel consists of three planks bevelled on all sides. They may have been disjointed at some point, and hence the two joints have slightly been very displaced (circa 1 mm). The painted surface is covered with an old and yellow varnish layer. The varnish layer has been lightened on the figure (his face, hair and costume). We can observe some indents with paint losses and some retouchings in these areas : around the joins, along the edges and in the wears. In the figure itself, we can only see some small retouches in the lower cheek. The pictorial layer is nice, dense and very well preserved. Under UV light: The varnish layer fluoresces completely. The fluorescence is more important in the background than in the figure. The retouches have been made above the old varnish layer, hence they are particularly visible under UV light. We can notice some retouches in the background and in the joins, mentioned above, sometimes a bit crudely done. In the face, some of the wears have been rather crudely retouched, this is also visible to the naked eye. Under the varnish layer in the background, the pictorial matter seems to be quite well preserved, except for a zone of wears with retouches visible in the lower right corner. Offered with a gilt and carved plaster frame. Please note that Sotheby's does not guarantee the condition of the frames.
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Wybrand de Geest was the most important Frisian portraitist of the 17th Century.  Trained by his father, he then entered the workshop of the Utrecht painter Abraham Bloemaert. Between 1614 and 1618, the artist sojourned in Rome, where he was nicknamed "De Friesche Adelaar". In 1622, he married Hendrickje van Uylenburgh, the niece of Rembrandt's wife Saskia. That same year, he was appointed court painter to the stadtholder at Leeuwarden. Dated to 1631, this grand portrait shows a young man, lavishly dressed in a red costume decorated with gold embroidery, holding a wonderful pair of embroidered gloves. Parents took great pride and attached much importance to the way they presented their children, often dressing them in fashionable costumes and rich fabrics trimmed with the finest lace, as we can observe here¹.

The young man portrayed here was surely a member of either one of the aristocratic families associated with the Leeuwarden court of the Stadtholder or one on the noble well-to-do Frisian families. Full-length portraits were reserved for the truly wealthy and privileged individuals. As indicated by Dr. Piet Bakker the present portrait has strong links both in composition and execution with the Portrait of Frans van Eysinga (1594-1661), dated 1634, attributed to De Geest, in the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden².

1. S. Kuus, 'Childen's costume in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries', in J.B. Bedaux. & R.E.O. Ekkart, (ed.), Pride and Joy. Chidren's portraits in the Netherlands 1500-1700, exh. cat., Haarlem/Antwerp 2000-2001, pp. 73-83.

2. Inv./cat.no. 1966-196; oil on panel, 114,5 x 97 cm; see Dr. A. Wassenbergh, De portretkunst in Friesland in de zeventiende eeuw, Lochem 1967, p. 36, nr. 51, fig. 83 and C. de Jong, 'De betekenis van het kostuum in de portretten van Wybrand de Geest', Kostuum 2013, pp. 6-21, fig. 1.