Circle of Dirck van Baburen

With Schaffer Galleries, New York, by 1961 (as Theodoor van Baburen);

With Maurice Segoura, New York, 1982;

Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 18 January 1984, lot 45 (as Attributed to Dirck van Baburen);

Where acquired.

"Notable Works of Art now on the Market: Supplement," in Burlington Magazine 103, no. 705 (December 1961), n.p., reproduced pl. XVII (as Theodoor van Baburen);

L.J. Slatkes, Dirck Van Baburen: A Dutch Painter in Utrecht and Rome, Utrecht 1962, pp. 89 note 132, 92, 142, 146, 147, cat. no. D1, reproduced fig. 37 (as an artist working in the joint studio of Ter Brugghen and Baburen);

B. Nicolson, "A Postscript to Baburen," in Burlington Magazine 104, no. 717, (December 1962), p. 543 (as Dirck van Baburen, based on a photograph);

B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe (second edition, revised and enlarged by Luisa Vertova), Oxford 1979, vol. I, p. 57, cat. no. 1086; vol. III, n.p., reproduced fig. 1086 (as an assistant of Baburen, "possibly with Baburen's intervention, both as designer and executant");

O. Naumann, "Letter from New York," in Tableau 4, no. 1 (September/October 1981), pp. 206-207, reproduced (as Dirck van Baburen);

B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, revised edition, Turin 1989, vol. I, p. 57, reproduced fig. 1089 (as an assistant of van Baburen, possibly with his intervention);

A. Brejon de Lavergnée, "Le caravagisme en Europe: À propos de la réédition du Nicolson," in Gazette des Beaux-Arts 122 (1993), p. 210;

L.J. Slatkes and W. Franits, The Paintings of Hendrick ter Brugghen 1588-1629, Amsterdam/Philadelphia 2007, pp. 67, 164, 165, 224, 230, cat. no. WTBVB9, reproduced plate 105 (as attributable to the probable joint workshop of Ter Brugghen and Baburen);

W. Franits, The Paintings of Dirck van Baburen, Amsterdam 2013, p. 214, cat. no. R83 (as probably by an artist who once belonged to the studios of Van Baburen and Ter Brugghen).

This compelling depiction of a philosopher was almost certainly painted in Rome during the second decade of the seventeenth century, at a moment when Netherlandish artists working in the city were absorbing the dramatic lessons of Caravaggio and adapting them to scenes of learned contemplation. The aged sitter is shown half-length, bent intently over an open book, his furrowed brow and tentative gesture of adjusting his spectacles conveying intellectual concentration. The presence of multiple volumes, including one propped upright on the table bearing the word “Demos”—likely an abbreviated reference to Demosthenes—strongly suggests that the figure represents a philosopher or classical orator, rather than a generic scholar. The warm, raking light, which isolates the figure against a dark ground and animates the textures of flesh, paper, and cloth, heightens the sense of psychological immediacy that is characteristic of Roman Caravaggism.

The painting has traditionally been associated with the circle of Dirck van Baburen, and was formerly ascribed to a supposed joint workshop with Hendrick ter Brugghen, the existence of which has more recently been called into question. Nevertheless, the artist appears to have been closely familiar with Ter Brugghen’s Roman-influenced figure types and, in particular, with his Four Evangelists series of 1621 (Deventer, Museum De Waag), which remained in the artist’s possession until his death in 1629. The probing realism of the head, the restrained palette, and the intimate focus on a single, absorbed figure align this work with a small but compelling group of Roman paintings produced by northern artists in the orbit of Baburen and Ter Brugghen, underscoring the sustained appeal of the philosopher as a vehicle for demonstrations of naturalism, character, and learned gravitas.

We are grateful to Professor Wayne Franits for suggesting the attribution of the present lot on the basis of digital photographs