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Lot Essay
Pieter de Grebber, together with Salomon de Bray, was a pioneer of Dutch Classicism in Haarlem. Both painters were pupils of Hendrik Goltzius who is considered the founding father of classicism in Dutch painting. Although de Grebber never went to Italy, we know of Goltzius's trip to Italy in 1590 where he must have learnt of the latest innovations that Annibale Carracci introduced in Rome towards the end of the century. In addition, Pieter de Grebber's father, Frans Pietersz. de Grebber, was a painter and art dealer, who acted as Rubens's agent in negotiations with the English Ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, in the Hague. De Grebber accompanied his father to Antwerp in 1618 where he may have met Rubens and whose classical art was certainly a factor in the formation of his style. He was praised as an importrant painter especially of histories, in the decriptions of Haarlem by S. Ampzing (1628) and P. Schrevelius (1648) and in Philips Angel's 1642 treatise on painting. In 1649, he published his Eleven Rules of Art on a single broadside.
The present painting is a characteristic work in the Dutch classical style with its soft modelling, cool tonalities and light ground. It was painted in 1637, a year before de Grebber received the official patronage of the Haarlem city fathers and the Stadholder Frederik Hendrik and Amalia von Solms to embellish several royal palaces, such as the Palace of Honselaarsdijk (destroyed) in 1638, the Oude Hof, now Noordeinde Palace, The Hague and the decorations for the Oranjezaal in the Huis ten Bosch, The Hague between 1648-50.
The present composition depicts a young man, half-length, wearing an exotic head dress and cloak fastened with gold ribbons. Portraying sitters in Eastern dress was very much in vogue in Dutch painting during this period. In the early decades of the seventeenth century the new Dutch State built a powerful colonial empire in the Middle East - indeed in 1623 the Shah of Persia recognized the Dutch East India Company. Persia was considered both exotic and bizarre and the 'Persianizing' fashion amongst Dutch painters appeared consistently from 1626-27, when Sultan Musa Beg made his trip to the Netherlands (for further reading, see H. Goetz, 'Persian costumes in Dutch painting of the seventeenth century', in Art Bulletin, XX, September 1938, p. 287 and H. Goetz, 'Oriental Types and Scenes in Renaissance and Baroque Painting-II', in The Burlington Magazine, LXXIII, September 1938, p. 105).
The present painting is most likely a tronie, a study of a man in exotic dress. De Grebber painted him without attributes or accessories, and therefore did not intend him to represent a specific historical, mythical or allegorical figure. During the 1630s tronies were popular in Rembrandt's Leiden circle, a good example of which is Jan Lieven's Portrait of a boy in Persian dress (sold in these rooms, 17 June 2004, lot 72) which is datable to circa 1631 and also depicts a boy, half-length, wearing an oriental turban and cloak fastened with a gold chain. Other examples of the use of oriental costumes include de Grebber's Self-portrait in eastern dress, of 1647 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and his colleague, Salomon de Bray's Young woman in an imaginary costume, of 1652 (Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem).
The present painting is a characteristic work in the Dutch classical style with its soft modelling, cool tonalities and light ground. It was painted in 1637, a year before de Grebber received the official patronage of the Haarlem city fathers and the Stadholder Frederik Hendrik and Amalia von Solms to embellish several royal palaces, such as the Palace of Honselaarsdijk (destroyed) in 1638, the Oude Hof, now Noordeinde Palace, The Hague and the decorations for the Oranjezaal in the Huis ten Bosch, The Hague between 1648-50.
The present composition depicts a young man, half-length, wearing an exotic head dress and cloak fastened with gold ribbons. Portraying sitters in Eastern dress was very much in vogue in Dutch painting during this period. In the early decades of the seventeenth century the new Dutch State built a powerful colonial empire in the Middle East - indeed in 1623 the Shah of Persia recognized the Dutch East India Company. Persia was considered both exotic and bizarre and the 'Persianizing' fashion amongst Dutch painters appeared consistently from 1626-27, when Sultan Musa Beg made his trip to the Netherlands (for further reading, see H. Goetz, 'Persian costumes in Dutch painting of the seventeenth century', in Art Bulletin, XX, September 1938, p. 287 and H. Goetz, 'Oriental Types and Scenes in Renaissance and Baroque Painting-II', in The Burlington Magazine, LXXIII, September 1938, p. 105).
The present painting is most likely a tronie, a study of a man in exotic dress. De Grebber painted him without attributes or accessories, and therefore did not intend him to represent a specific historical, mythical or allegorical figure. During the 1630s tronies were popular in Rembrandt's Leiden circle, a good example of which is Jan Lieven's Portrait of a boy in Persian dress (sold in these rooms, 17 June 2004, lot 72) which is datable to circa 1631 and also depicts a boy, half-length, wearing an oriental turban and cloak fastened with a gold chain. Other examples of the use of oriental costumes include de Grebber's Self-portrait in eastern dress, of 1647 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) and his colleague, Salomon de Bray's Young woman in an imaginary costume, of 1652 (Frans Halsmuseum, Haarlem).