Govert Flinck (Cleves 1615-1660 Amsterdam)

Portrait of a painter, perhaps a self portrait (recto); A Biblical scene (verso)

Details

Govert Flinck (Cleves 1615-1660 Amsterdam)
Portrait of a painter, perhaps a self portrait (recto); A Biblical scene (verso)
pen and brown ink, traces of black chalk at lower left, brown ink framing lines
6½ x 5 5/8 in. (16.6 x 13.6 cm.)

Provenance

Vicomte Bernard d'Hendecourt; Sotheby's, London, 9 May 1929, no. 248, as Rembrandt School; where purchased by I.Q. van Regteren Altena for 242 guilders (Inventory book: '710. t. Rembrandt school, schilders portret').

Literature

F. Lugt, Inventaire des dessins du Musée du Louvre: école hollandaise: III: Rembrandt, ses élèves, ses imitateurs, ses copistes, Paris, 1933, p. 60, under no. 1314.
H. van Hall, Portretten van Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars, Amsterdam, 1963, p. 100, no. 14 (as a self portrait).
J.W. von Moltke, Govaert Flinck 1616-1660, Amsterdam, 1965, no. D 147.
W. Sumowski, 'Eine frühe Federzeichnung von Govaert Flinck', Pantheon, XXV, 1967, pp. 339-40, note 2.
W. Sumowski, Drawings of the Rembrandt School, New York, 1981, IV, no. 966x.
T. Döring, in Aus Rembrandts Kreis: Die Zeichnungen des Braunschweiger Kupferstichkabinetts, exhib. cat., Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, 2006, under no. 15.

Exhibited

Leiden, Museum De Lakenhal, Rembrandt als leermeester, 1956, no. 127.
Cleves, Städtisches Museum Haus Koekkoek, Govert Flinck 1616-1660, 1965, no. 62.
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Paris, Fondation Custodia, and Brussels, Bibliothèque Albert 1er, Le Cabinet d'un Amateur: Dessins flamands et hollandais des XVIe et XVIIe siècles d'une collection privée d'Amsterdam, 1976-77, no. 51, pl. 77 (catalogue by J. Giltaij).

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Lot Essay

The sitter in this drawing is shown holding a palette, maulstick and brush, and the angle of the eyes suggests that it is a self-portrait. In the 1976-77 catalogue, he was identified as Govert Flinck, on the basis of similarities to the self-portrait of Flinck shown in the left background of The Civic Guard of Amsterdam celebrating the Signing of the Peace of Westphalia (1648; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).

In a letter dated 2 December 1932 to I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Frits Lugt suggested the attribution of this drawing to Flinck comparing it to the Woman Seated at a Table in the Louvre (Sumowski, 1981, op. cit., no. 967x). Sumowski does not believe this to be a self-portrait and suggests a date of circa 1655.

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