The Hermit

1670

Gerrit Dou

Painter, Dutch, 1613 - 1675

A pale-skinned, balding man with a fringe of white hair and a long, wispy gray beard kneels with his fingers intertwined in prayer in a shadowy grotto-like space in this vertical painting. He faces our right in profile, and his eyes look up at a crucifix propped against several woven baskets leaning against a moss-covered, gnarled tree. His hands rest on the open pages of a large book at the base of the crucifix. He wears a dark tawny-brown robe with a voluminous hood, and a string of thick rosary beads hanging from his waist ends with a tiny skull and a cross. A brick archway frames him, and another archway is seen through the opening. An unlit lantern hangs from the tree over the crucifix. The book, baskets, and crucifix along with a skull and hourglass sit on a rock covered by a cloth. An overturned pottery jug, a water jug, and a horse’s skull rest among a tall thistle plant and grass at the foot of the rock, in the lower right corner of the panel.

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An old hermit dressed in a Franciscan habit, his clasped hands resting on a well-thumbed page of the open Bible, kneels before a crucifix and contemplates the mysteries of Christ’s death and resurrection. Gerrit Dou was fascinated by the subject of the contemplative life and its virtue, and he produced at least eleven hermit scenes over the course of his career. Here Dou has reinforced his message with reminders of the brevity of human life: the skull, the hourglass, and the extinguished light of the lantern. The thistle stands for the hermit’s constancy, while the live branches growing from a dead tree symbolize life after death. The Hermit is an outstanding example of the exquisitely refined painting technique for which Dou became famous.

After an early training in glass engraving, Dou apprenticed with Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) from 1628 to at least 1631, when Rembrandt left for Amsterdam. Dou remained in his native Leiden, where he produced ever more finely wrought, highly finished compositions. His work was greatly sought after by collectors, not just in the Netherlands but throughout Europe, and his paintings fetched high prices. In 1665 a Leiden collector rented a room and exhibited twenty-seven of Dou’s paintings, one of the first recorded occasions of an exhibition devoted to the works of a single painter.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 50-C

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on oak panel

  • Credit Line

    Timken Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 46 x 34.5 cm (18 1/8 x 13 9/16 in.)
    framed: 60.3 x 50.1 cm (23 3/4 x 19 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1960.6.8

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: The Hermit, 1670

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

Probably Kurfürst Karl Albrecht [1697-1745], Munich, by 1742.[1] (Kurfürstliche Galerie, Munich);[2] Alte Pinakothek, Munich, by the mid-eighteenth century; deaccessioned in 1927;[3] sold to (Galerie van Diemen, New York and Berlin);[4] William R. Timken [1866-1949], New York; by inheritance to his wife, Lillian S. Guyer Timken [1881-1959], New York; bequest 1960 to NGA.
[1] On the back of the painting are two wax seals that were detached from the original panel when it was cradled and then reapplied. According to Dr. Susan Neuburger (letter, 6 November 1981, in NGA curatorial files), one of these seals is that of Kurfürst Karl Albrecht, and this seal was used until 1742. The other seal may also be that of Karl Albrecht, or alternatively of Kurfürst Maximillian II Emmanuel (1662–1726).
[2] Franz von Reber, Katalog der Gemälde-sammlung der kgl. Älteren Pinakothek in München, Munich, 1884: 86, no. 399 (also reprint, 1904: 93, no. 399).
[3] Dr. Susan Neuburger (letter, 6 November 1981, in NGA curatorial files) wrote that a painting by Dou that appeared in an auction in Amsterdam in 1779 (May 19, no. 49; a sale by Van der Schley, De Winter, Hosteyn, and Yver for a “Mr. V…”), traditionally thought to be The Hermit, was another work, as the NGA painting must have already been owned by the Alte Pinakothek. She also provided the information about the deaccession and sale of the painting.
[4] In 1935 the Berlin branches of van Diemen and its affiliated galleries were liquidated by order of the Nazis, with sales organized by Graupe on January 25 and April 26. This painting was not in either of those sales, and thus had been sold from the Berlin branch or sent to the New York branch before 1935.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1997

  • Rembrandt and the Golden Age: Dutch Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 1997, unnumbered brochure, repro.

1998

  • A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 16.

1999

  • A Moral Compass: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Painting in the Netherlands, Grand Rapids Art Museum, 1999, no. 5, repro.

2000

  • Gerrit Dou (1613-1675): Master Painter in the Age of Rembrandt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague, 2000-2001, no. 34, repro.

2003

  • Rembrandt and the Rembrandt School: The Bible, Mythology and Ancient History, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2003, no. 57, repro.

2005

  • Time and Transformation in Dutch Seventeenth Century Art, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, 2005-2006, no. 74, repro.

Bibliography

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):38, no. 111.

1884

  • Reber, Franz von. Katalog der Gemälde-sammlung der kgl. Älteren Pinakothek in München. Munich, 1884: 86, no. 399.

1902

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou. Translated by Clara Bell. London, 1902: 129, no. 132.

1904

  • Reber, Franz von. Katalog der Gemälde-Sammlung der Königlichen älteren Pinakothek in München. 2nd ed. Munich, 1904: 93, no. 399.

1907

  • 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): 348, no. 19.

  • 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):346, no. 19.

1908

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou. The great masters in painting and sculpture. Translated by Clara Bell. London, 1908: 129, no. 132.

1911

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gérard Dou, sa vie et son oeuvre: Etude sur la peinture hollandaise et les marchands au dix-septième siècle. Paris, 1911: 164-165, no. 11.

1913

  • Martin, Wilhelm. Gerard Dou: des Meisters Gemälde in 247 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst in Gesamtausgaben 24. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1913: 6, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 43.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 36, repro.

1975

  • National Gallery of Art. European paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. Washington, 1975: 110-111, repro.

1980

  • Artemis Group. Ten Paintings by Gerard Dou, 1613-1675. Exh. cat. David Carrit Limited, London, 1980: nos. 2, 3.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 291, no. 381, color repro.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 134, repro.

1990

  • Baer, Ronni. "The Paintings of Gerrit Dou (1613-1675)." Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1990: no. 121, repro.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 57-60, color repro. 59.

  • Baer, Ronni. "Image of Devotion: Dou's Hermit Praying." Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts Bulletin 67 (1995): 23-33, repro.

1998

  • Boeckl, Christine M. “Penitence/Repentance." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:723.

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. A Collector's Cabinet. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 65, no. 16.

  • Roberts, Helene E., ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:723.

1999

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr., Lawrence O. Goedde, Mariët Westermann, and Henry M. Luttikhuizen, eds. A Moral Compass: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Painting in the Netherlands. Exh. cat. Grand Rapids Art Museum. New York, 1999: 52-53, no. 5.

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: no. 34.

2003

  • Kofuku, Akira. Rembrandt and the Rembrandt School: The Bible, Mythology and Ancient History. Exh. cat. Kokuritsu Seiyo Bijutsukan, Tokyo, 2003: no. 57.

2004

  • Smith, Pamela H. The body of the artisan art and experience in the scientific revolution. Chicago, 2004: 205, fig. 6.20, repro.

2005

  • Brown, David Alan, and Jane Van Nimmen. Raphael & the Beautiful Banker: the story of the Bindo Altoviti portrait. New Haven, 2005: 219 n. 17.

  • Kuretsky, Susan Donahue. Time and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art. Exh. cat. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville. Seattle, 2005: no. 74.

2020

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Clouds, ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Folger Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2020: 24, fig. 9, 25.

Inscriptions

lower center on book strap, GD in ligature: GDou 1670; on right page of book, GD in ligature: GDou

Wikidata ID

Q20177624

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