RKD STUDIES

17th century, oil on Eastern Baltic oak panel, 62.2 × 48.9 cm

PROVENANCE
Fairfax Murray Gift, 1917.

REFERENCES
PGC Minutes, 16 Feb. 1917, p. 18; Hall 1921 and 1922, no. 605 (Dutch School; Portrait of an Artist by Himself); Cook 1926, no. 605 (Dutch School); Schneider 1932, pp. 68, 148, no. 247 (Jan Lievens, Self-portrait?); Cat. 1953, p. 19 (Dutch School; Self-portrait); Van Hall 1963, p. 187, 1271.5 ([Jan Lievens]: Self-portrait?); Schneider & Ekkart 1973, pp. 68, 148, 334, no. 247 (Jan Lievens, Self-portrait (?)); Murray 1980a, p. 304 (Jan Lievens, Self-portrait); Sumowski 1983–94, iii, pp. 1808, 1926, no. 1287 ([Jan Lievens] Self-portrait); Beresford 1998, p. 77 (attributed to Jan Cossiers); Tyers 2014, pp. 43–5; Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 317–18 (Flemish/Dutch School); RKD, no. 298481: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/298481 (Sept. 4, 2020).

EXHIBITION
Aberystwyth 1947, no. 15 (Dutch School; Self-portrait).

TECHNICAL NOTES
Three-member Eastern Baltic oak panel; dendrochronology gave a terminus post quem of c. 1631. Buff ground. Fluent, bravura brushwork, areas of the hair incised with brush handle. The panel slopes inwards on the right-hand side. There is evidence of past woodworm infestation, relating to a crack on the front. At some point the panel was thinned and fitted with a cradle on the reverse. By the early 20th century the crack that had developed was serious and size was poured into the crack in 1927 to deal with this. The crack was ‘touched out’ by ‘J. W. G.’ in 1930 and the panel restored in 1952–5 by Dr Hell. It was cleaned and restored in 1989–96. As part of this treatment, it was examined in 1993 by Melanie Caldwell, Courtauld Institute of Art: the cradle was removed, the split re-joined, lost wood replaced, filled and in-painted. The back bears the remains of an old paper label: ‘E…’

Infrared photographs taken in 2014 revealed underdrawing around the oval of the face and lips, although examination with a microscope suggests these outlines were strengthened in previous retouching campaigns.

RELATED WORKS
1) Anthony van Dyck, Sir Endymion Porter and Anthony van Dyck, c. 1633, canvas, 119 x 144 cm (oval). Prado, Madrid, P001489 [1].¹
2) Lucas Vorsterman I after Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of Anthony van Dyck, engraving for Icones principum virorum (Antwerp, 1645/6), 248 × 157 mm. RPK, RM, Amsterdam, RP-P-OB-33.106 [2].²
3) Peter Paul Rubens, Self-portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua, 1600–1608, canvas, 77.5 x 101 cm. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, 248.³
4) Lucas Vorsterman I after Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of Jan Lievens, engraving for Icones principum virorum (Antwerp, 1645/6), 245 x 151 mm. RKD, The Hague [3].⁴
5) Jan Lievens, Self-portrait, monogrammed IL, c. 1627, panel, 52 x 40.5 cm. SMK - National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, KMSsp413 [4].⁵
6a) Robert Walker, Self-portrait, canvas, 64 x 54.2 cm, Sotheby’s, 23 Nov. 2006, lot 20 [5].⁶
6a.I) Copy or replica of 6a (previously said incorrectly to be copy of DPG605), canvas, 63 x 48 cm (present whereabouts unknown; coll. Dr Franz Oppenheimer, Berlin; sale Lepke, Berlin, 7 Nov. 1916, lot 106 (68 x 53 cm; 16,000 DM), with ill.; coll. George von Dadelsen, Munich).⁷
6a.II) 18th-century copy of 6a (previously said incorrectly to be copy of DPG605), canvas, 65.5 x 45.5 cm; coll. Schönborn-Weisentheidtschen Galerie in Pommersfelden, cat. 1894, no. 163 (as attributed to ‘Ant. van Dyck’).⁸
6b) Robert Walker, Self-portrait, c. 1645, canvas, 73.7 x 61 cm. NPG, London, NPG753 [6].⁹

DPG605
Netherlandish School, 17th century
Selfportrait?
panel (oak), oil paint 62,2 x 48,9 cm
Dulwich (London), Dulwich Picture Gallery, inv./cat.nr. DPG605

1
Anthony van Dyck
Double portrait of Endymion Porter (1587-1649) and Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), to be dated 1633
Madrid (city, Spain), Museo Nacional del Prado, inv./cat.nr. 1489

When this was gifted to Dulwich in 1917 it was described as a self-portrait by a Dutch artist c. 1640, possibly by Jan Miense Molenaer (1609/10–68).¹⁰ It remained as Dutch school until Schneider tentatively described it as a self-portrait by Jan Lievens (1607–74), subsequently including it in the artist’s catalogue raisonné as showing the influence of Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). Indeed, the pose is similar to that of Van Dyck’s self-portraits, such as Sir Endymion Porter and Anthony van Dyck (c. 1635, Related works, no. 1) [1] and the one engraved by Lucas Vorsterman I (1595/6–1674/5) for the Icones principum virorum (Antwerp, 1645/6; Related works, no. 2) [2]. It also resembles the pose of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) in his Self-portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua (1600–1608; Related works, no. 3).

Pickhardt saw similarities between the facial features of this sitter and those of Lievens as depicted by Van Dyck in his Icones engraved by Vorsterman (Related works. no. 4) [3] and the artist’s self-portrait in the National Gallery of Denmark (Related works, no. 5) [4], but concluded that the ‘interpretation as a self-portrait by Lievens remains to a certain extent doubtful’.¹¹

Vlieghe disagreed with the attribution to Lievens, saying that the brushwork is free in some areas and that the face has features that suggest the work of Jan Cossiers (1600–1671). That attribution was accepted by Beresford.¹² Cossiers was based in Antwerp and trained with Cornelis de Vos (1584–1651). In the 1630s he was employed by Rubens. He became one of the leading painters of religious subjects after Rubens’s death in 1640.

Lloyd DeWitt suggested that the Dulwich painting was a sketch by the British artist Robert Walker (1599–1658) in preparation for his self-portrait on canvas sold at Sotheby’s in 2006 (Related works, no. 6a) [5].¹³ Sotheby’s attributed that work to Walker based on its similarity to his self-portraits in the National Portrait Gallery in London (Related works, no. 6b) [6] and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. While there are similarities between the Sotheby’s work and that at Dulwich, any resemblance between them and the Walkers in London and Oxford is minimal, and only involves the sitters’ Van Dyckian poses. The former are more lively and spontaneous, the latter somewhat wooden in pose. Interestingly, there were two copies after the Sotheby’s painting at the time in the collections of Dr Franz Oppenheimer and Graf von Schönborn (the latter attributed to Van Dyck in 1894), which Schneider listed incorrectly as copies of the Dulwich picture (Related works, nos 6a.I and 6a.II).

DPG605 is sketchily painted, especially in the coat and collar, but some areas of the face such as the nose and forehead are more detailed. The paint of the lace edges of the collar is freely applied, but with a confident hand. The relationship with the Sotheby’s painting remains unclear, but rather than the Dulwich painting being a sketch for that it is more likely that this is a damaged, unfinished self-portrait by an as yet unknown, but accomplished, Flemish (or Dutch?) artist, who was familiar with the work of Rubens and Van Dyck.

4
Jan Lievens
Self-portrait, c. 1627
Copenhagen, SMK - National Gallery of Denmark, inv./cat.nr. KMSsp413

5
Robert Walker
Self-portrait of Robert Walker (died 1658)