FEATURES ARCHIVE

First documented as part of the Russian Imperial collection at St Petersburg in 1797, the rediscovered Old man at a casement may now be considered one of Govaert Flinck’s most significant works.

One of Rembrandt’s most talented pupils and later rival on the lucrative market for portraits and history paintings, Flinck was so adept at working in the manner of his master that several of his pictures, including this one, were sold as works by Rembrandt’s own hand. Portraiture was highly fashionable in Amsterdam during the mid-17th century; its leading practitioners paid enough to maintain large studios with pupils. As the son-in-law of the director of the East India Company, Flinck was independently wealthy, acquiring two adjoining canal-side houses and converting the top two floors into a studio and gallery. His studio boasted an array of items also used by Rembrandt – an eclectic mix of jewellery, armour, exotic textiles and costumes ready to lend an air of antiquity to a composition.

Hinting at History
Our Old man works in the mode of Rembrandt’s tronies, or ‘faces’ – imaginary portraits based on live models that were influential in Flinck’s own work. These studies often featured old men in archaic costume posed in dramatic attitudes, referred to generically as philosophers or prophets – history painting meets portraiture. Leaning on a richly embroidered cushion, Flinck’s subject wears a red velvet cap, gold chain, black fur-trimmed coat and a lace shirt with elaborately frilled cuffs. Like Rembrandt, Flinck uses the clothes in a deliberate effort to transport his subject into the past, evoking a sense of antiquity and timelessness. The dramatic lighting and posture are spontaneous and expressive, his contemplative gesture hints at a pose whose pictorial origins may be traced to Dürer’s Melancholia.