DUTCH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1665 | Portrait of a boy, full-length, wearing a richly-embroidered doublet and skirt, with blue, white and red ribbons, and a lace collar, standing with his dog in a landscape

Possibly a noble German collection, 19th century (their red wax seal on the reverse);
Private collection, France.

The canvas is lined, the paint surface is dirty, and the varnish is thick and discoloured. There is a degree of wear visible throughout the paint surface, and several losses (visible in the catalogue illustration) mainly in the background; one of these, centre left, has been caused by a knock to the reverse of the canvas, and the others seem to have been caused by old flaking. Discoloured retouchings are visible in the boy's white sleeve, the bottom of his waist coat, and in areas of his skirt, as well as to the top of the balustrade centre right, scattered in the background including to an apparent old, L-shaped tear just to the left of the sitter's head approx. 6 x 6 cm., and scattered along the upper margin. Inspection under ultraviolet light is impeded by the thick varnish, but reveals some pin-prick retouchings in the boy's face, and confirms the other aforementioned areas of intervention, but it is difficult to discern older restoration.
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This charming portrait of a boy who, not yet breeched and still wearing skirts, must be aged around 6 years old, dates to the 1660s. His rich clothes are in the French fashion, which at this time was being adopted in the Netherlands: a very short doublet, worn open to reveal his shirt, and an expanse of ribbons, which are similar to those found in the costume of the boy in Jan van Noordt’s portrait of 1665.¹ 1 Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, inv. no. B577; see R.E.O. Ekkart and J.B. Bedaux (eds), Pride and Joy. Children’s portraits in the Netherlands, exh. cat., Amsterdam 2000, pp. 266–68, cat. no. 74, reproduced in colour.