EGBERT VAN HEEMSKERCK THE ELDER | SELF-PORTRAIT

With D.A. Hoogendijk, Amsterdam, 1932;

R.H. Ward, London;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 17 February 1936, lot 112, for 11 Guineas to Peel;

With Galerie Dr. Schäffer, Berlin;

Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, 2–3 December 1988, lot 640;

Private collection, France;

With D. Koetser, Zürich, 1989–90;

With Spencer A. Samuels, New York, 1990 (when advertised in The Burlington Magazine, vol. 132, October 1990);

Anonymous sale ('The Property of an Estate'), New York, Sotheby's, 28 May 1999, lot 35 (as Egbert van Heemskerck the Younger), when acquired. 

Amsterdam, D.A. Hoogendijk, Zeldzame meesters uit de 17e eeuw: catalogus van weinig bekende meesters uit de zeventiende eeuw, 15 June – 15 July 1932, no. 40;

Rotterdam, Kunsthal, At Home in the Golden Age, 9 February – 18 May 2008, no. 40.

The SØR Rusche Collection has been exhibited extensively over the last two decades. Please click here for further information.

H.P. Bremmer (ed.), Beeldende Kunst 19. Jaargang, vol. XIX, March 1933, p. 83, cat. no. 83, reproduced;

H. van Hall, Portretten van Nederlandse beeldende kunstenaars. Repertorium, Amsterdam 1963, p. 131, cat. no. 863.1;

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Stilleben und Tierstücke. Niederländische Malerei des 17. Jahrhundert der SØR Rusche Sammlung, vol. V, Münster 2004, pp. 286–89, cat. no. 66, reproduced in colour;

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al., At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 58, cat. no. 40, reproduced in colour.

This is one of three presumed self-portraits of the painter of genre scenes, Egbert van Heemskerck the Elder. Heemskerck was the step-brother of the landscape artist Jan Wijnants and was also active in Haarlem. Van Heemskerck was one of several artists to move to London at the end of the 17th century. If one presumes that the artist appears to be around 40 years old in this portrait, it is likely that it was painted around the time that he came to London. Legend has it that he painted a depiction (as yet untraced) of King Charles II surrounded by his favourite ladies-in-waiting, the irreverent spirit of which almost led to the artist's execution.

Demand for portraiture gained increasing momentum during the Dutch Golden Age as more and more of the population could afford to commission likenesses of themselves and their families. The development of the art market also led to increased interest in the identity of the artist, and of course painters such as Rembrandt developed the genre of self-reflection to an unprecedented degree.