Willem Key

Possibly acquired by Edward Hyde (1609–1674), 1st Earl of Clarendon (according to Gibson, see under Literature);
Possibly Lord Hyde, by 1750, when recorded in his inventory as 'Gentleman, on panel';
Thence by descent until sold, London, Sotheby's, 5 July, 2007, lot 125 (as Jorge de la Rúa).

R. Gibson, Catalogue of Portraits in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon, London 1977, p. 104, no. 114, reproduced;
K. Jonckheere, Willem Key (1516–1568): Portrait of a Humanist Painter, Turnhout 2011, pp. 74–75, no. A15, reproduced.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The artist's oak panel has two repaired vertical joins or splits which are each supported with five butterfly inserts. These two lines are approximately 23.5 cm from the left vertical edge and 29 cm from the right vertical edge, as viewed from the reverse. The overall structural condition appears to now be generally secure, although the right hand join or split appears very slightly open in places. Paint surface The paint surface has a rather dull, matt varnish layer and could be revarnished to give the surface more depth and contrast and to ensure a more even surface coating. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows what appear to be quite recent retouchings along the two vertical splits or joins, small dots on the sitter's face and far larger and more extensive retouchings in the upper left of the background with other retouchings in the costume. There may well be earlier retouchings beneath opaque varnish layers that are not identifiable under ultraviolet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good condition and should be enhanced by revarnishing.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This elegant portrait of a richly-attired young gentleman was painted at a time when Willem Key was already well-established as one of the leading portrait and history painters in sixteenth-century Antwerp, then one of the greatest commercial and artistic centres of Europe. According to Karel Van Mander, Key was part of the city’s elite, enjoying substantial social and artistic prestige as a portraitist in vogue with both resident nobles and foreign dignitaries. Endowed with 'Sulcke edele gheesten' ('such a noble mind') and 'Docta manus' ('a learned hand')¹, Key came to receive the patronage of such distinguished individuals as Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and Antoine Perrenot, Cardinal Granvelle.²

Gibson (see under Literature) construed the first letters of the inscription on the reverse of this panel as an identification of the sitter – ‘Perari de Cremona’ – but no trace of such a personality has ever come to light. It is possible that the inscription was more legible in 1977, but without substantiating evidence, the identity of the sitter remains elusive. More certain, is that this gentleman of rank sought Key as an artist who was eminently capable of reconciling the meticulous Netherlandish tradition of portraiture with the rapidly advancing Italian manner and ideals of the Renaissance. The man’s impassive, sober expression complements the serene grandeur of his pose, exemplifying Key’s seamless unification of objective, physiognomic, Netherlandish representation with the monumentality of contemporary Italian likenesses. This type of burgher portrait would be developed and popularised by Antonis Mor at the end of his career in Antwerp, and perpetuated in the work of Rubens and Van Dyck, almost a century later.

The inscription on the reverse of the work: ‘…EYE. PINX…’ may be read as ‘[K]eye painted it’. Koenraad Jonckhere states that 'it is an old and trustworthy inscription and should therefore not be disregarded without good reason.'³ Placing this portrait alongside others of Key’s works, a number of features are revealed as highly characteristic of the artist’s œuvre. The flesh tones and brushstrokes visible in the figure are closely comparable to those in Key’s Portrait of a Lady executed in 1556, the same year as the present painting.⁴ The sitter’s right hand is also distinctive of Key’s work. The idiosyncratic placement of the little finger, slightly pulled away from the rest of the digits, is directly analogous with that of the hand in Key’s securely-attributed Portrait of a Lady of 1559.⁵ The way the rather flattened, amorphous gloves are painted is seen in a number of Key’s portraits, such as Portrait of a Man, aged 28, dated 1563.⁶ The green curtain behind the gentleman is one element of the painting which appears less frequently in Key's portraits, favouring as he often did neutral backgrounds devoid of anecdotal accessories, though there are a handful of works in which figures are set against a backdrop.⁷

Although the painting was traditionally attributed to Key when in the Hyde collection, it was reattributed by Dr. Maria Kusche in 2007 to Jorge de la Rúa (active circa 1552–78), a Flemish artist whose peripatetic career led him to work in Portugal, Spain and France. Kusche argued that the manner of painting bears similarities to that of Mor at this time, who Jorge would presumably have known at the Portuguese court when he was working there from 1552. However, the style of painting is entirely consistent with that of Key’s work in this period and indeed, the portrait has now been included in Konrad Jonckheere’s recent monograph, published in 2011.

The presence of this painting in the celebrated Clarendon collection lends it a particularly distinguished provenance. The likely first owner, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609–74), English historian and statesman, was grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne, and his career was linked closely with the fortunes of both Charles I and Charles II. Hyde was leader of the Royalist party in the Commons in 1641 and fleeing the Civil War he joined the Prince of Wales in The Hague in 1648, becoming his principal counsellor. In recognition of his close involvement in the Restoration, Hyde was created Earl of Clarendon in 1661, though he later fell from the King’s favour.

1. Karel van Mander, Het schilder-boeck, Haarlem 1604, folio 233v.

2. See Jonckheere 2011, pp. 104–10, cat. nos A41–A44, reproduced in colour pp. 105–09.

3. Jonckheere 2011, p. 75.

4. Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona, inv. no. 1788-1B0037 (see Jonckheere 2011, p. 74, cat. no. A14, reproduced in colour p. 73).

5. Private collection, England (see Jonckheere 2011, p. 85, cat. no. A23, reproduced in colour p. 84).

6. Present whereabouts unknown (see Jonckheere 2011, pp. 91–93, cat. no. A29, reproduced in colour p. 92).

7. In Key’s earliest known portraits dating to 1543, for instance, the sitters are positioned in front of the bases of classical columns (see Jonckheere 2011, pp. 57–61, cat. nos A1 and A2, reproduced in colour pp. 58–59), a compositional device that Key repeated in the portrait of Cardinal Granvelle, dating to circa 1561.