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Lot Essay
The sitter was the son of Cornelis van Beresteyn and Corina Hofdijck; born in Delft on 19 June 1627, he studied at Leiden University, becoming a lawyer at the court of Holland. He married his niece, Magdalena van Adrichem, on 20 November 1652, but died a few months later on 23 September 1653.
We are grateful to Professor Peter Hecht for confirming the attribution, having examined the painting in the original. He compares the features of the sitter to those of the Violinplayer, formerly in the Dutch Renaissance Art Collection, Amsterdam (see P. Hecht, De Hollandsche Fijnschilders, Amsterdam, 1989, no. 6, illustrated). He suggests a date for the picture of circa 1650 on the basis of its stylistic resemblance to the Young Mother of 1658 (The Hague, Mauritshuis; P. Hecht, ibid., no. 7). Furthermore, he notes that the stained glass window in the latter picture depicts the coat-of-arms of the Adrichem family, into which the present sitter married through his wife.
We are grateful to Professor Peter Hecht for confirming the attribution, having examined the painting in the original. He compares the features of the sitter to those of the Violinplayer, formerly in the Dutch Renaissance Art Collection, Amsterdam (see P. Hecht, De Hollandsche Fijnschilders, Amsterdam, 1989, no. 6, illustrated). He suggests a date for the picture of circa 1650 on the basis of its stylistic resemblance to the Young Mother of 1658 (The Hague, Mauritshuis; P. Hecht, ibid., no. 7). Furthermore, he notes that the stained glass window in the latter picture depicts the coat-of-arms of the Adrichem family, into which the present sitter married through his wife.