Portrait of a gentleman, half length, wearing black costume, lace chemise and black cloak

Although little is known about the Utrecht artist, his style is undoubtedly indebted to Abraham Bloemaert, as P. Van den Brink, `Aelbert Jansz. van der Schoor, een Utrechts Schilder en zijn Werk', Oud Holland 108, 1994, pp.37-58 points out. Working as a painter of still lifes, historical scenes and genre pieces, the artist also executed at least 12 portraits, listed by Van den Brink, all dated between 1642 and 1651 (op. cit., pp.50-54). We are grateful to P. Van den Brink for suggesting, on the basis of a photograph, that the present lot may be a pendant of the portrait of a woman, signed and dated 1649, in the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, inv. no1045 (see Van den Brink, op. cit., pp. 50-52, no4, fig.19).

See illustration