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Lot Essay
This freely-drawn study of a boy writing at a table may be an affectionately informal portrait of the artist's son, Jacques de Gheyn III (1596-1641). Such an identification was first suggested by van Regteren Altena himself in 1983 (op. cit.), who detected some physiognomic similarities between the studious boy in the present drawing and Rembrandt's portrait of Jacques III from some twenty years later (Dulwich Picture Gallery). The idea is supported by the playful placement of the signature, which appears upside down on the letter the young man is writing. If the sitter truly is Jacques de Gheyn III, his likely age would allow the present drawing to be dated to circa 1609-10.
Van Regteren Altena also noted that the drawing's technique, with its fluid velvety lines of black chalk, and the strong parallel hatching used to create solidity and texture, is close to the style of Lucas van Leyden. During his time in Leiden, de Gheyn must have become familiar with the work of the older master: he certainly made copies after his prints (see lot 126) and the present drawing is similar, both in concept and execution, to van Leyden's An old man drawing (British Museum, London; see Lucas van Leyden and the Renaissance, exhib. cat., Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, 2011, no. 89).
Van Regteren Altena also noted that the drawing's technique, with its fluid velvety lines of black chalk, and the strong parallel hatching used to create solidity and texture, is close to the style of Lucas van Leyden. During his time in Leiden, de Gheyn must have become familiar with the work of the older master: he certainly made copies after his prints (see lot 126) and the present drawing is similar, both in concept and execution, to van Leyden's An old man drawing (British Museum, London; see Lucas van Leyden and the Renaissance, exhib. cat., Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, 2011, no. 89).