- 67
Govert Flinck Kleve 1615 - 1660 Amsterdam
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Description
- Govert Flinck
- a portrait of a gentleman, standing half-length, turned to the right, wearing a black coat with a white lace collar, holding his hat with both hands
- indistinctly signed and dated lower right: G. flinck. ft./ 1641
- oil on panel, prepared with gesso on the reverse
Provenance
Vavasour Earle, London,
By whom (anonymously) sold, London, Christie's, 31 May 1906, lot 19, to Hughes;
With L. Birtschansky, Paris, by 1936;
With S. Nijstad, The Hague, by 1968/9;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 June 1971, lot 109 to the J. Paul Getty Museum (inv. no. 71.PB.36).
By whom (anonymously) sold, London, Christie's, 31 May 1906, lot 19, to Hughes;
With L. Birtschansky, Paris, by 1936;
With S. Nijstad, The Hague, by 1968/9;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 June 1971, lot 109 to the J. Paul Getty Museum (inv. no. 71.PB.36).
Exhibited
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Rembrandt and his pupils, A loan exhibition, 16 November - 30 December 1956, p. 90, no. 62;
Delft, Stedelijk Museum het Prinsenhof, 20e Oude kunst- en antiekbeurs der Vereeniging van Handelaren in Oude Kunst in Nederland: 1948-1968, 20 June - 10 July 1968;
Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Rembrandt and his pupils, A loan exhibition, January - April 1969, p. 90, no. 62, reproduced.
Delft, Stedelijk Museum het Prinsenhof, 20e Oude kunst- en antiekbeurs der Vereeniging van Handelaren in Oude Kunst in Nederland: 1948-1968, 20 June - 10 July 1968;
Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Rembrandt and his pupils, A loan exhibition, January - April 1969, p. 90, no. 62, reproduced.
Literature
J. W. von Moltke, Govaert Flinck, 1615 - 1660, Amsterdam 1965, p. 131, no. 308, reproduced;
B.B. Fredericksen, Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1972, no. 104;
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. II, Landau/Pfalz 1983, p. 1038, no. 697, reproduced p. 1129;
P.C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America, Washington 1986, p. 146;
D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 1997, p. 43, reproduced;
A.K. Wheelock Jr., et. al., Gerard ter Borch, Washington 2004, p. 100, under no. 22, reproduced fig. 1.
B.B. Fredericksen, Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1972, no. 104;
W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, vol. II, Landau/Pfalz 1983, p. 1038, no. 697, reproduced p. 1129;
P.C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America, Washington 1986, p. 146;
D. Jaffé, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 1997, p. 43, reproduced;
A.K. Wheelock Jr., et. al., Gerard ter Borch, Washington 2004, p. 100, under no. 22, reproduced fig. 1.
Catalogue Note
Arthur Wheelock (see Literature) drew a comparison between this picture and a half-length portrait of an anonymous sitter by Ter Borch, who is very similarly posed. His point was that both portraits are likely to be of sitters from Amsterdam, where Ter Borch apparently spent much of his time in the 1640s and early 1650s, and where Flinck was working.
While Flinck's history pictures and tronies from the early 1640s are still strongly reminiscent of the style of his teacher, Rembrandt, whose workshop he had left in circa 1636, his portraits from this time, of which this is a particularly good example, are far less dependent on his Master's style. By this time Flinck seems to have had a busy workshop of his own and a flourishing practice as a portrait-painter, and he certainly tailored his style as a portraitist to his clients' tastes, rather than to his own artistic formation.
While Flinck's history pictures and tronies from the early 1640s are still strongly reminiscent of the style of his teacher, Rembrandt, whose workshop he had left in circa 1636, his portraits from this time, of which this is a particularly good example, are far less dependent on his Master's style. By this time Flinck seems to have had a busy workshop of his own and a flourishing practice as a portrait-painter, and he certainly tailored his style as a portraitist to his clients' tastes, rather than to his own artistic formation.