Flemish School, mid-17th century

The Stroganoffs, one of the wealthiest and most politically and artistically influential families in the history of Russia, once counted this portrait among their collection of masterpieces of Western painting amassed over generations of collecting. After the Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union nationalized the family's collection and either rehoused it in Russian state museums or sold it in Western auction houses, as is the case with the present lot.

Although sold as the work of Dutch artist Jan Jansz. de Stomme (1615 - 1658) in 1931, the present portrait is certainly Flemish. The pose, dress, and attributes held by the man--a letter and small book--recall the portraits of artists engraved by Erasmus Quellinus II for Cornelis de Bie's Het gulden Cabinet vande edele vry Schilder-const (1661).¹

We are grateful to Nadja Garthoff of the RKD for assistance in the cataloging of this lot.

1. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/bie1662