THOMAS DE KEYSER | Equestrian portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as Signeur de Maarsseveen

Gruyter collection;
W. Breggen collection;
M. Barthélemy, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 14 December 1871, lot 20 (as G. Terburg and J.B. Weenix), for 5,000 Francs;
Private collection, England;
Pariset collection, Lyon;
Baron Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild (1843-1940), Frankfurt am Main, by 1911 and until at least 1925;
Coumt Hompesch;
Captain E.C. Palmer, by 1952 until at least 1961;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 3 December 1959, lot 53;
With S. Nystad, the Hague, by 1960;
Private collection, North Carolina, by 1963;
Anonymous sale, Asheville, North Carolina, Brunk, 13 September 2014, lot 820;
There acquired by the present collector.

Frankfurt am Main, Städel Museum, Ausstellung von Meisterwerken alter Malerei aus Privatbesitz, Summer 1925, no. 113 (reproduced plate LXXXIV);
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Dutch Pictures: 1450-1750, 22 November 1952 - 1 March 1953, no. 447 (landscape attributed to Adriaen Van de Velde, lent by Captain Eric C. Palmer);
Kingston upon Hull, Frerens Art Gallery, Dutch Painting of the Seventeenth Century, 2 June - 2 July 1961, no. 54 (landscape by Adriaen Van de Velde, lent by Captain Eric C. Palmer);
Leeuwarden, Fries Museum; 's-Hertogenbosch, Noordbrabants Museum; Assen, Provinciaal Museum van Drenthe, In het zadel: het nederlands ruiterportret van 1550 tot 1900, 7 December 1979 - 4 May 1980, no. 61;
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Gallery of the Public Library of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, Collectors' Opportunity, 22 April - 3 May 1963, no. 7b.

R. Oldenbourg, Thomas de Keysers Tätigkeit als Maler. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des holländischen Porträts, Leipzig 1911, p. 78, cat. no. 58 (as Thomas de Keyser, the landscape by another hand);
A.J. Adams, The paintings of Thomas de Keyser (1596/7-1667): a study of portraiture in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 1985, vol. III, p. 290, cat. no. R-89 (under section of rejected works).

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 work has not been recently restored. The canvas has a thin old lining. The cracking is very slightly raised, but the paint layer is stable. The painting is dirty. There are retouches around all four edges, but there are hardly any of note within the picture proper. There are pentimenti of an earlier placement of the trees that have become more visible, especially immediately to the right of the figure in the lower sky. The condition is very good overall and this painting will respond well to careful restoration.
"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."

Although equestrian portraits in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century are relatively rare outside the preserve of court portraiture, Thomas de Keyser explored the subject of burghers on horseback on a few occasions.  In the present scene, which is bathed in a cool and crisp light, an elegantly dressed gentleman appears seated atop a chestnut horse, surrounded by a lush and rolling landscape with a chateau in the distance.  One dog runs alongside him, while a a group of figures, some on horseback, and dogs meander up the path behind.   This canvas can be compared to other known works by Thomas de Keyser, including his signed and dated portrait Pieter Schout, High Bailiff of Hagestein, in the Rijksmuseum (dated 1660, fig. 1),¹ as well as his Equestrian Portrait of a Gentleman with Two Hounds in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main.²

1 Oil on copper, 86.1 by 69.6 cm., inv. no. SK-A-697.
2 Oil on panel, 71 by 55.9 cm.,  inv. no. 187; see J. Sander and B. Brinkmann, Niederländische Gemälde vor 1800 im Städel, Frankfurt am Main 1995, p. 39, reproduced in color plate 80.