Lot Essay
This hitherto unpublished panel is an addition of some interest to the artist's oeuvre, for which see W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt Schüler, Landau-Pfalz, 1983, I, pp. 96-102, and 1993, V (supplement to the 1983 editions), nos. 2162-2170. Whilst the majority of Verelst's output consists of genre scenes reminiscent of Gerrit Dou and Adriaen van Ostade, he also executed a number of figure paintings in the 1640s in a style close to that of Govaert Flinck and Salomon Koninck, inspired by Rembrandt's painting of the 1630s. The Rembrandtesque qualities exhibited here are closely comparable to those of his picture of 1647 in the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico.