Jan Victors Amsterdam 1619 - circa 1676 East Indies

This is an early work by Victors, painted when he was just twenty-one, and in the same year as his Young woman at an open window in Paris, Louvre (inv. no. 1286).  While Victors did not establish himself fully until a few years after painting these works, they both demonstrate an advanced understanding of the three-dimensional form and an interest in applying gesture, and with it movement, into his subjects.  His most productive years came between 1645-55 when his portraits adopted an even greater sophistication and theatricality; see, for example, the 1652 portrait of the De Witte family as Isaac and Rebecca with Jacob and Esau in a German private collection (see W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. IV, Landau/Pfalz 1983, cat. no. 1755, reproduced p. 2654).