PIETER VERELST | A TRONIE OF AN OLD WOMAN SEATED, HOLDING SPECTACLES IN HER RIGHT HAND

Pieter Verelst was the father of three painter sons: Simon, Herman and Johannes. He was a pupil of the great Leiden painter Gerard Dou, and the Dordrecht artist Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, but the present painting owes most to the example of Rembrandt’s tronies - character studies, rather than true portraits.

Inspired by Rembrandt (and no doubt reacting to market demand for these subjects) Verelst focuses here on the rendering of the old lady’s skin, as well as the rich fabrics she wears - key preoccupations in paintings of this type by Rembrandt and Jan Lievens circa 1630. Verelst appears to have depicted the same model in a painting of 1648 (Berlin, Staatens Museum für Kunst, Gemäldegalerie), and it is likely that this painting dates from around the same period.