The sitter, son of Willem van Riel and Cornelia Haesbroek, was member of the Council of Rotterdam and a maritime lawyer. He married Johanna van Rijckevorsel in 1742
The attribution is based on comparison with the portrait of a gentleman, said to be Cornelis Troost, signed and dated 1737, in the Rijksmuseum (see J.W. Niemeijer, Denner en Van der Smissen, twee hanze schilders in Holland, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XXI, 1970, pp. 199/224, p. 208, fig. 10). As Niemeijer has pointed out, the latter portrait was executed during the fourth journey of Denner to the Netherlands from 1736-1740. Therefore the present lot falls also within this period
The attribution has been kindly confirmed by Dr J.W. Niemeijer after seeing the original (oral information)
See colour illustration