* Antoine Sallaert Brussels circa 1590 - circa 1658

Possibly Mrs. Christian R. Holmes: a ticket to an exhibition of May 16-19, 1942 at The Chimneys, Sands Point, Long Island, Mrs. Holmes' country residence, is stuck to the back of the frame, but the drawing was apparently not included in the subsequent auction of that property at Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, September 26-30, 1944 (the auction had been delayed due to gasoline rationing and some of the property was retained)

Despite the traditional attribution to Van Dyck, this drawing is clearly by the same hand as A Seated Trumpeter in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (see Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth Century from the Frits Lugt Collection, exhibition catalogue, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, et al., February 9-November 8, 1972, p. 125, cat.no. 87, illustrated pl. 81).  Lugt based his attribution on a comparison with the figures in two large paintings by Sallaert in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, depicting scenes from the life of the Archducal couple, Albert and Isabella.  Other similar studies include A Standing Man Holding a Plumed Hat and a Staff, formerly in the Koenigs collection (sold, in these Rooms, January 23, 2001, lot 60), and others in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam and the Bibliothèque Royale Albert I, Brussels.