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Gallery Text

Whether derived from imagination or observed from life, portraits and head studies were a mainstay of Dutch draftsmanship of the early Golden Age. As the four drawings displayed at the center of this room show, the medium of pen and ink, with the occasional addition of washes, was popular among artists intent on producing technically refined and visually striking human likenesses. Jacob Matham’s Portrait of a Man stands out for its exceedingly controlled and meticulous pen work. This, in essence, is a showpiece, produced to celebrate the artist’s skill as a draftsman. Matham’s exacting study can be contrasted with the bold and painterly drawing manner of Jan van Bouckhorst, whose drawing depicts the allegory of the Three Ages of Man. A more informal approach was also adopted in Dirck de Vries’s Head of a Young Woman in Profile. Showing the woman’s unruly hair falling over her neck and eyes, and rendering her upper body in quick angular strokes, the drawing gives the impression of an intimate study done from life. While the model in De Vries’s work will likely remain anonymous, the sitter in the portrait by David Bailly can be identified as Dutch painter and draftsman Jan Pynas. Formal in approach and polished in execution, this drawing is the only known likeness of the artist, whose own landscape drawing is also included in this installation.

[25.1998.6, TL41760.4, TL41760.23, TL41760.24]

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2023.627
People
Jan Philipsz. van Bouckhorst, Dutch (Haarlem(?), Netherlands c. 1588 - 1631 Haarlem, Netherlands)
Title
The Three Ages of Man
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1629
Culture
Dutch
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/183539

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink, brown wash, and white opaque watercolor on off-white antique laid paper
Dimensions
20 x 16.1 cm (7 7/8 x 6 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Brown ink, upper right corner: .Iv.Boúchorst / Harlemensis Fecit / Anno 1629.
  • inscription: verso, lower left, graphite: Ginsburg Collection / W. Bockorst 1629
  • inscription: verso, lower left, black ink, stamp: L. 1145 [Dr. C. D. Ginsburg 1831-1914]
  • watermark: Arms of Baden-Hochberg [Churchill 267; 1644, Rhenish]
  • collector's mark: verso, lower center, stamp: AMG [mark of Maida and George Abrams, Lugt 3306]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Dr. Christian David Ginsburg (1831-1914), Palmer's Green, England (Lugt 1145). [Christie's, London, January 9, 1991, lot 89]. Maida and George S. Abrams, Boston, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2023

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
The Maida and George Abrams Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gift of George Abrams in memory of William F. Pounds
Accession Year
2023
Object Number
2023.627
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Framing line in graphite.

Publication History

  • Old Master Drawings, auct. cat., Christie's, New York (New York, January 9, 1991), lot 89, repr.
  • Marijn Schapelhouman and Peter Schatborn, Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: Artists born between 1580 and 1600, Rijksmuseum and Merrel Holberton (Amsterdam and London, 1998), p. 19, under no. 32
  • William W. Robinson, Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 43, repr.

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu