Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670), Portrait of a man at his desk holding pince-nez, three-quarter length (17th century)

After Bartholomeus van der Helst (Dutch, 1613-1670) Portrait of a man at his desk holding pince-nez, three-quarter length, 17th century Oil on canvas 44 x 39-1/4 inches (111.8 x 99.7 cm) PROVENANCE: (Possibly) Jean Frederic d'Orville, by 1809; (With) Galerías La Granja, Mexico City, Mexico, after 1930 (as Govaert Flinck, Portrait of an Old Man); Private collection. LITERATURE: J. van Gent, Bartolomeus van der Helst(ca. 1613-1670): een studie naar zijn leven en werk, 2011, pp. 220-221, mention of a copy that is possibly this work. This portrait of a bearded man is an excellent copy of the 1651 portrait of a man by Bartholomeus van der Helst, probably incorrectly identified as Petrus Scriverius (Schrijver), which is preserved in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, The Netherlands (inv./cat. no. 1445). In her monograph and catalogue raisonné on van der Helst, Judith van Gent mentions two copies of the Leiden original: one in a collection in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, in which the man appears to be standing, and the other in the 1809 inventory of the collection from which the original in Leiden came, described as ‘Een dito verbeeldende hetzelfde voorwerp [een geleerde zittende in zijn studeerkamer, genaamd Man met de Baard] gecopieerd na het eerstgenoemde [...]' (Ditto, depicting the same object [a scholar sitting in his study called Man with a Beard] copied after the aforementioned). The latter may be the present painting. We are grateful to Dr. Fred G. Meijer for his expertise essential to the cataloguing of this lot.

HID09710052018

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Condition Report: Lined canvas. Frame abrasion with some areas of associated gilding transfer at upper and right edges. Surface dust. Finely patterned craquelure throughout. Some scattered scuffs and hairline scratches visible under raking light, likely affecting only the varnish layer. Thick layer of varnish with yellowing to some areas. Not examined out of frame due to size. Under UV: heavily-applied varnish fluoresces green unevenly, somewhat obscuring the image surface. Apparent areas of brushy retouching to the background, particularly around the white feather quill and the figure's proper right hand. More finely-applied retouching around the edges of the figure's beard. A few small, finely applied dots and dashes of retouching to the man's hairline, cheeks, proper left temple, and lips. Framed Dimensions 57 X 53 X 3 Inches