Lot Essay
We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs. He notes that this may be an early work from circa 1660, since it still shows a strong influence of the Haarlem painter Adriaen van Ostade. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the violinist may be a self portrait of Heemskerck and can be compared with a portrait of circa 1670 (Sotheby's, London, 28 May 1999, lot 35).