Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn Portrait of a 76... Lot 2040

Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn Portrait of a 76 year old preacher Oil on canvas (doubled). 142,5 x 118,5 cm. Monogrammed and dated on the back of the chair: J R 1635. Inscribed on the top right: AETATIS SUAE 76. Provenance Auction Tajan, Paris, 10.4.1992, lot 13. - SØR Rusche collection. - Auction Sotheby's, London, 10.5.2019, lot 265. - Private collection Southern Germany. Exhibitions Liesborn, Museum Abbey Liesborn (on permanent loan). - At Home in the Golden Age. Masterpieces From the SØR Rusche Collection, Rotterdam, Kunsthal, 9.2-18.5.2008, no. 92. Literature Hans-Joachim Raupp (ed.): Portraits. Dutch Painting of the. 17th Century of the SØR Rusche Collection, Münster et al. 1995, pp. 118-9, no. 45 (with ill.). - Exhibition cat. "At Home in the Golden Age. Masterpieces From the SØR Rusche Collection," ed. by Marten Jan Bok and Jannet de Goede, Rotterdam, Kunsthal, 9.2-18.5.2008, Zwolle 2008, p. 97, no. 92 (with ill.). The painting shows an elderly man in three-quarter figure sitting in an armchair. The gaze is turned towards the viewer, the right hand rests on a book, the left embraces a folded letter. So far, the identity of the man could not be established, although the painter gives us some clues: so we know the age of 76 by the inscription at the top left and on the prominently staged letter is written as an address " A Sr Jan / Predicant", so we are also informed about the profession of the sitter. Finally, the monogram of the artist and the date are found on the back of the chair. Next to the seated figure of the preacher is a table covered with an oriental rug, on which lie another book and a round, wide-brimmed hat. Above it, a window opens with a lush red drapery as a common sovereign motif in portrait painting. In addition, our painting impresses above all with the meticulous depiction of the clothing, especially the brilliant white millstone collar and the rest of the clothing differentiated in the finest shades of black, some of which is damascened with a floral pattern. Jan Anthonisz Ravesteyn, who was born in The Hague and, with the exception of a presumed trip to Italy, lived there all his life, is one of the most important Dutch portrait painters of the first half of the 17th century. In addition to individual portraits, he also produced group portraits and was particularly successful with shooter pieces. He himself was portrayed in turn by Anthony van Dyck in a grisaille painting now in Boughton House, Northamptonshire, and in a chalk drawing owned by the Albertina, Vienna, after which the engraving for the Iconography, the collection of portraits of important Flemish painters was made (see Fig. 1). Fig. 1 / Ill. 1: Paulus Pontius after/after Antonis van Dyck; Portrait Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum