Attributed to Sir Peter Paul Rubens

By descent to the Earls of Jersey, Osterley Park, Middlesex (according to a label on the reverse);
With James Bourlet & Sons, Ltd., London, inv. no. E 4594 (according to a label on the reverse);
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 27 April 2007, lot 8 (as circle of Sir Peter Paul Rubens);
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 29 January 2009, lot 122 (as Sir Peter Paul Rubens);
There purchased by a private European collector;
By whom given to the present owner. 

On loan to the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, inv. no. 229313-5 (as Circle of Peter Paul Rubens, according to a label on the reverse).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This oil painting on paper laid on wood has been fairly recently cleaned and restored yet the varnish is extremely thick and the restoration is not particularly focused, and a more refined restoration could be applied. The paint layer and the paper mounted on panel, for the most part, are stable. There is one slight blister in the right side of the collar and a very thin crack in the panel in the upper center. A restoration extends in from the left side of head to the mouth addressing a very thin scratch and there is some thinness on the right side of the mouth, yet for the most part the face itself is unrestored. Under ultraviolet light there are some rather loose, aimless retouches visible in the background which could be applied more accurately. An older varnish may obscure earlier retouches, and it is more than likely that each corner was originally curved and the painting has more recently been turned into a rectangular shape. Despite the thinness in the background and some pentiment in the collar, the condition is quite respectable, and this a picture would improve if restored again.
"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."

Rubens' first sojourn to Italy in 1600-1608 began a revolution in portraiture, which at that moment was dominated by a formal international style made popular in the Spanish court of Philip II, and disseminated throughout Europe by leading figures such as Antonius Mor, Alonso Sánchez Coello, and Frans Pourbus. Rubens’ absorption of Titian's work during his formative stay in Italy was especially critical in his success at infusing portraiture with a renewed use of warm color, pathos, and compositional dynamism that would be felt throughout Europe.

This engaging image of a young gentleman, until recently obscured under a dirty varnish, is a handsome shoulder length portrait which bears the key hallmarks of Rubens’ revolutionary style, and specifically relates to various  portraits executed during his stay in Mantua circa 1604-5. It was during these two years that the artist was working for Vicenzo I Gonzaga on the now fragmentary triad of portraits from The Holy Trinity Adored by the Gonzagas, in the Jesuit church of Santa Trinità, Mantua.  Indeed, the directness and immediacy of the present portrait is entirely consistent with the heads of the three young Gonzaga princes, Vicenzo, Ferninando, and Francesco, which were originally intended as full-length portraits within the context of the altar.¹  As with the depiction of the Gonzaga princes, the young gentleman in the present portrait, with his slightly parted lips, warm rosy flesh color, and lively eyes, appears as though he is caught in action. Given the soft youthful features of the sitter in the present portrait, it is tempting to try to identify him as a member of the Gonzaga family, who tended to have a "baby-face appearance"² (see, for example, the drawing of Ferdinando Gonzaga in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm); however, there is no documentary evidence to substantiate such a connection.

1. Vicenzo Gonzaga is now the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna; Ferdinando Gonzaga is now in the Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, Parma; and Francesco Gonzaga is now in a private collection.
2.  F. Huemer, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part XIX, Portraits, vol. I, Brussels 1977, p. 30.