Bust of a Bearded Man

c. 1642/1645

Gerrit Dou

Painter, Dutch, 1613 - 1675

Shown from the chest up, a light-skinned man with a wrinkled face and a silvery gray beard and hair gazes into the distance in this oval portrait painting. His chest is angled to our right but he turns his head to look off over his other shoulder, to our left. His slate-blue eyes are a little sunken and lined with wrinkles. Shading marks the hollows of the temple and cheek we can see. His thin lips are closed and framed by his curly mustache and beard. A dark, mahogany-brown cap is pushed back on his head, and his brown jacket has gold-colored buttons down the front. The collar of a cream-colored shirt shows through at the neckline. The background is dark olive green. The artist signed the work near the man’s shoulder, to our right: “GDOV.”

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In this intimate portrait, a bearded man with piercing eyes gazes to his right, his weathered face brightly illuminated against his dark beret. Bright accents enliven his eyes and help model his forehead and cheek bones, while similar highlights define the folds of his open shirt and articulate the strands of his grey hair. Dou's expressive brushwork and detailed handling of paint bring an extraordinary vigor and animation to this wonderful image. This work was once believed to represent Dou's father—a romantic notion that has since been proven wrong by a confirmed image of him with a darker beard and rounder face.

Dou's small oval panel is an outstanding example of a tronie, a type of figure study popular among Dutch artists. Among them, Rembrandt van Rijn, Dou's teacher, made many of these studes in the early to mid-17th century. Dou made tronies of both young and old models, though he favored the old, because their time-worn faces seemed to convey notions of wisdom and experience. Tronies were often sold as independent works, but they were also commonly used by artists as studies for their own genre and history paintings.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 50-C

Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Bust of a Bearded Man, c. 1642/1645

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly[1] Jacques Ignace de Roore, Antwerp;[2] (his estate sale, The Hague, 4 September 1747, no. 89, with pendant). possibly Johan van der Marck, Leiden; (his estate sale, by Hendrik de Winter and Jan Yver, Amsterdam, 25 August 1773 and days following, no. 66).[3] possibly (sale, Hôtel d'Aligre by Alexandre Joseph Paillet, Paris, 17 February 1777 and days following, 1st day, no. 79); (Jacques Langlier, Paris).[4] possiby Gilbert Paignon Dijonval [1708-1792], Paris;[5] by descent to his grandson, Charles-Gilbert, vicomte Morel de Vindé [1749-1852]; (his sale, by Charles Paillet and N. Bérnard, Paris, 17 December 1821 and days following, no. 21 bis); (Thomas Emmerson, London). possibly Jeremiah Harman [1763-1844], London, by 1842;[6] (his estate sale, Christie and Manson, London, 17-18 May 1844, no. 33); Robert Clouston [d. 1882], Balrath, near Navan, co. Meath, Ireland; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 18 June 1881, no. 116); James.[7] Gottfried von Preyer [1807-1901], Vienna, by 1901;[8] (sale, 1902); purchased by William A. Clark [1839-1925], New York; bequest 1926 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] This provenance puts together chronologically all the histories attached by a number of authors to various paintings that might be identified with the Gallery's painting; hence, through the 1881 sale, many "possiblys" are added to the text. The first author to do this was James Douglas Breckenridge, A Handbook of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in the William Andrews Clark Collection, Washington, 1955: 13 note. There is uncertainty identifying the Gallery's painting in the sale catalogue descriptions, in which the painting is often described as a portrait of the artist's father, and the authors sometimes describe separate paintings that might be the same one. See: John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, 9 vols., London, 1829–1842: 1(1829):19, no. 55 [1777 Du Barry collection sale]; 34, no. 99 [Paignon Dijouval sic collection bought 1821 en bloc by Mr. Emmerson]; 9 (1842):18, no. 58 [Paignon de Dijonval, Emmerson, J. Harman]; Ernst Wilhelm Moes, Iconographia Batava, Vol. 1, Amsterdam, 1897: 483, no. 3984/2 [De Roore 1747] and 3 [Coulston sic 1881, J. Harman 1844]; Wilhelm Martin, Het Leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou, Leiden, 1901: 203, no. 135 [Paignon Dijonval sic, Harman 1843]; Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts,10 vols., Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 1(1907):431, no. 291 [Paignon Dijonval sic, Emmerson, Harman 1844, Coulston sic 1881, Von Preyer, Clarke sic]; 432, no. 292 [De Roore, 1747, Van der Marck 1773]; 436, no. 319d [Dubarry sic 1777, and identified by the author as possibly the same as no. 292].
[2] This is the name as given in the 1747 sale catalogue. He was probably Jacobus Ignace de Roore, 1686-1747, a painter and art dealer in Antwerp.
[3] Yver's name appears beside this lot (and lot number 67, a woman's portrait) in an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the NGA Library, indicating the painting might have been bought in.
[4] Although some of the paintings in this sale belonged to the comtesse du Barry, and Smith and Hofstede de Groot describe the sale as the Du Barry sale, not all the paintings were hers and the Dou was included in this group; see The Getty Provenance Index Databases, description and contents of Sale Catalog F-A450, where the buyer's name is also recorded. Langlier was a dealer; the painting does not appear in his sale, held 24 April 1786 and the following days at the Hôtel de Bullion in Paris.
[5] Smith 1842, 18, no. 58, gives the name as Paignon de Dijonval.
[6] Smith 1842, 18, no. 58.
[7] Ernst Wilhelm Moes (Iconographia Batava, 2 vols., Amsterdam, 1897: 1:483, no. 3984, item 3) is the first author to cite this name, but incorrectly spells it "Coulston" and does not provide details about the 1881 sale. The correct spelling of the name, the identification of the 1881 sale, and the names of the buyers at both the 1844 and 1881 sales were kindly provided by Lynda Mcleod, libarian at Christie's Archives, London (e-mail of 17 April 2015, in NGA curatorial files).
[8] Martin 1901, 203, no. 135.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1908

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1908-1909.

1978

  • The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 48.

2000

  • Gerrit Dou (1613-1675): Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague, 2000-2001, no. 11, repro.

2001

  • Antiquities to Impressionism: The William A. Clark Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001, no. 62, repro.

2014

  • Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Their Contemporaries, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 2014, no. 9, repro.

Bibliography

1752

  • Hoet, Gerard. Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen. Supplement by Pieter Terwesten. 2 vols. The Hague, 1752-1770: 2(1770):206, no. 89.

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 1(1829):19, no. 55 as The portrait of an old man, with a black velvet bonnet, 34, no. 99, as Portrait of the artist's father; 9(1842):18, no. 58, as The Artist's Father.

1897

  • Moes, Ernst Wilhelm. Iconographia Batava. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1897–1905: 1(1897): 483, no. 3984 n. 3.

1901

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Het Leven en de werken van Gerrit Dou. Leiden, 1901: 203, no. 135, as Dou's Father.

1902

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou. Translated by Clara Bell. London, 1902: 48, 104, no. 11, as Portrait of Dou's Father (reprint ed. London, 1908).

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 1(1907): 431, no. 291, as Dou's Father; 432, no. 292, as Dou's Father; 436, no. 319d, as Portrait of an Old Man.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 1(1907):440, no. 291 and no. 292, both as Dou's Father; 445, no. 319d, as Portrait of an Old Man.

1911

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gérard Dou, sa vie et son oeuvre: Etude sur la peinture hollandaise et les marchands au dix-septième siècle. Paris, 1911: 51, 174, no. 67, as The Father of the Painter.

1913

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou: des Meisters Gemälde in 247 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 24. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1913: 29 repro., 181, no. 29b (rechts), as The Father of the Artist.

1925

  • Carroll, Dana H. Catalogue of Objects of Fine Art and Other Properties at the Home of William Andrews Clark, 962 Fifth Avenue. Part I. Unpublished manuscript, n.d. (1925): 172, no. 170, as Portrait of an Old Man.

1928

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Illustrated Handbook of the W.A. Clark Collection. Washington, 1928: 41.

1932

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Illustrated Handbook of the W.A. Clark Collection. Washington, 1932: 44, no. 2081, as Portrait of the Artist's Father.

1955

  • Breckenridge, James D. A handbook of Dutch and Flemish paintings in the William Andrews Clark collection. Washington, 1955: 12 repro., 13, as The Artist's Father.

1976

  • Hoet, Gerard. Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen. 3 vols. Reprint of 1752 ed. with supplement by Pieter Terwesten, 1770. Soest, 1976: 2:206, no. 89.

1978

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. "A Reappraisal of Gerard Dou's Reputation." In The William A. Clark Collection: An Exhibition Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Installation of the Clark Collection at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington. Exh. cat. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978: 60 fig. 48, 61-67.

1986

  • Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Washington and Grand Rapids, 1986: 301, as Portrait of a Bearded Man.

1990

  • Baer, Ronni. "The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675)." 3 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1990: 1:39.1-39.4; 2:3, no. 39; 3:repro. 39, as Bust of a Man.

2000

  • Baer, Ronni, et al. Gerrit Dou, 1613-1675: Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague. New Haven, 2000: 84-85, no. 11, 137, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right over sitter's left shoulder, "DOV" in smaller letters: GDOV

Wikidata ID

Q46624752

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