Ferdinand Bol after Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Dordrecht 1616 - 1680 Amsterdam

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Description

Ferdinand Bol
a portrait of Nicolaas van Bambeeck (1596-1661), standing half-length in a niche, wearing a black hat, a black coat, a lace collar, lace cuffs and gloves;a portrait of his wife Agatha Bas (1611-1658), standing half-length in a niche, wearing a black dress with lace collar and cuffs, earrings, pearl jewellery, and holding a fan
a pair, the former bears a Rembrandt-signature and date 1641 centre right, the latter bears a Rembrandt-signature and date 1641 lower left
both oil on canvas

Literature

W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. V, Landau/Pfalz 1983, p. 3086, cat. nos. 2019-20, reproduced, pp. 3149-50.

Catalogue Note

In the early 1640s Bol copied this portrait pair after Rembrandt's originals of 1641. Rembrandt's portrait of Van Bambeeck is in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (inv. no. 155), and Rembrandt's portrait of Agatha Bas is in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace; the two canvases went their separate ways as early as 1814. Around 1640 Rembrandt painted a number of portraits of distinguished, withdrawn figures, all bathed in subdued light. These include Nicolaas van Bambeeck and his wife Agatha Bas. According to Sumowski (see Literature below) Bol probably used these copies as a means to practise the play of light and postures of figures.

Agatha Bas (1611-58) was a member of one of Amsterdam’s leading families, the daughter of Dirk Jacobszoon Bas, a director of the Dutch East India Company who had served as burgomaster of the city on several occasions. She married Nicolaas van Bambeeck (1596-1661), a successful cloth merchant who was an immigrant from Flanders. Rembrandt had probably known Van Bambeeck for some time before he painted both his portrait and the companion portrait of his wife Agatha in 1641. In 1640 both Rembrandt and Van Bambeeck invested in business of the art-dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh.

On the basis of first-hand inspection Professor Dr. Ernst van de Wetering believes these paintings to be probably painted in the late 17th Century and therefore do not originate from Rembrandt's studio.