Louis Vallée

The canvas is lined. The painting presents a strong and handsome image beneath a clear varnish. Stretcher bar marks visible at all edges, and some more pronounced craquelure towards the upper quadrant. Inspection under UV reveals a thick and milky varnish that obscures some reading in areas. It also reveals some small spots of more recent retouching scattered here and there in the figure in the background. Visible beneath the thick varnish are some older retouches, for example a few lines in his forehead, a few small spots in the white of his collar, a more pronounced area of older retouching in his lowered hand holding a glove, and some scattered spots and fine lines scattered in both hands, the background and the table in the foreground. Offered in a decoratively carved giltwood frame.
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Little is known of the Dutch artist Louis Vallée, and only a handful of works by him are known.  He is recorded in the burial register as having lived on the Warmoesstraat, in the parish of the Oude Kerk. From the signed works there can be deduced a short window of activity from 1646-53, but this apparently short career leads to speculation of an early death; indeed the artist may have been carried off by the plague which was raging in Amsterdam in 1653.