Govaert Flinck Kleve 1615 - 1660 Amsterdam

Possibly the Abbé Demeé/ Du Meé/ Demié;
Possibly his (deceased) sale, Paris, Joullain, 11 June 1772, lot 13 ("Le portrait en buste d'un vieillard, vu de trois quarts, il a une barbe courte, un petit bonnet sur la tête, & est decoré d'une chaîne d'où pend une médaille; ce Portrait est peint sur bois... en 1631, de son meilleur temps...", 22 pouces 6 par 18) where sold for 600 francs;
Gemäldegalerie, Früher Oldenburg, by 1897, no. 195 (one of the early possessions of the gallery, according to Bode, see under Literature);
Victor Hahn Collection, Berlin;
His sale, Berlin, Herman Ball and Paul Graupe, 27 June 1932, lot 16.

W. Bode and C. Hofstede de Groot, The complete work of Rembrandt, Paris 1897, vol. II, p. 160, no. 140, reproduced ("Painted about 1632". "The signature, Rembrandt 1648, is a forgery") as Rembrandt, but as formerly ascribed to J. Lievens; 
A. Rosenberg and W.R. Valentiner, Rembrandt (Klassiker der Kunst), Stuttgart/Berlin 1908, p. 119, reproduced (as Rembrandt);
C. Hofstede de Groot, A catalogue raisonné..., London 1916, p. 222-3, no. 416 (as Rembrandt);
A. Bredius, Rembrandt Gemälde, Vienna 1935, no.151, reproduced (as doubtful Rembrandt: 'nicht durchaus gesichert');
J. Rosenberg, Rembrandt: life and work, London 1964, p. 371 (as not by Rembrandt, having seen the original);
K. Bauch, Rembrandt Gemälde, London 1966, p. 47 (as Manner of Salomon Koninck);
A. Bredius (revised by H. Gerson), Rembrandt, London 1969, p. 536, reproduced (as not by Rembrandt);
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol.II, Landau/Pfalz 1983, p.1035, under cat. no. 678.

We are grateful to Prof. Werner Sumowski for endorsing the attribution to Govaert Flinck and for suggesting a date of execution in the early 1640s.