Lot Essay
Thomas de Keyser was, with Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy, Amsterdam’s leading portraitist prior to Rembrandt’s arrival in 1631. Rembrandt’s influence may in part account for the uncharacteristic informality and muted earth tones evident in this portrait. While the artist experimented with staging his portraits in landscape settings in the mid-1630s, this is the only known portrait by de Keyser that invokes an explicitly pastoral theme.
This portrait of a young woman dressed as ‘Flora Primavera’, or the goddess of Spring, has been described as 'among [de Keyser's] most delicate and charming works,' (Adams, op. cit., II, p. 409). She supports on her right hip a basket with wild roses and an orange blossom and holds a white rose in her right hand. Her left hand is pressed against her chest in a sign of avowal. Around her waist is a striped sash associated with pastoral figures, while atop her head is a wreath of flowers. A singular flower has fallen onto each of her shoulders, recalling Ovid's statement that 'when she shakes her hair, flowers fall from it' (Fasti, V, line 359).
The taste for pastoral imagery was only coming into vogue around the time de Keyser painted this portrait, spurred on in large part by developments in the literary realm. In the same year that de Keyser painted this portrait Johan van Heemskerk published his popular pastoral romance Batavische Arcadia, which is widely credited with contributing to the popularity of pastoral paintings. Adams suggests that de Keyser may also have adapted the composition of Gerrit van Honthorst’s Double Portrait of Frederik Hendrik and Amalia von Solms, datable to circa 1637 and today in the collection of the Mauritshuis, The Hague (fig. 1). Much like Amalia von Solms, the young woman in de Keyser’s portrait appears full-length, facing to the left.
Unlike Honthorst’s portrait, the seated boy playing a flute in de Keyser’s image, is, in all likelihood, not a portrait. Music-making shepherds and rams, both visible in the left middle ground, are traditionally associated with erotic love. However, here the shepherd seems to be protecting the young woman by ‘keeping the lusty rams at bay with his enchanting tune’ (Adams, op. cit., III, p. 126).