Unknown

Portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.

Provenance: with Leo Blumenreich and Julius Böhler, Munich, 1924 Dr. Frederic Goldstein Oppenheimer (1881-1963), San Antonio, Texas; by whom given to: Abraham M. Adler, New York, until 1985; thence by descent to the present owners While old inscriptions on the verso of this panel propose its author to be Hans Holbein and the sitter Sir John More—a lawyer, judge, and the father of Sir Thomas More—this fine portrait has long been recognized to be by a Flemish hand. Max Friedländer gave the painting to Bernard van Orley (1487/1491 – 1541) in 1924, but did not include it in the volume dedicated to the artist in his Early Netherlandish Paintings...

This exquisite oil on panel portrait, depicts a young lady wearing the most elaborate and costly items of the period - the Dutch coif or coronet of sheer lawn with lace, the lavishly embroidered stomacher, and the exquisite ‘molensteenkraag’ or millstone collar, made of batiste fabric. These items were worn by the wealthy individuals in society. The collar itself often requiring over 15 metres of fabric and an incredible effort to maintain. The whiteness of her skin serves as a marker of her social background and status, highlighting how physical appearance can often play a significant role in how individuals were perceived in society. This portrait shows the precise, meticulously crafted, style for which the artist became well-known and is a fine example in its description of the sitter’s character and the careful reproduction of the face and fabrics. The well-preserved condition provides a unique opportunity for us to admire the intricacy and details of the attire that may not always be possible in portraits from a similar age. The dark pigments used to depict the expensive black silk, along with the intricate lace, have remarkably stood the test of time, allowing us to appreciate the craftsmanship and artistry that went into creating them four hundred years ago. The gold pin worn in her hair on her left side indicates that she was engaged when the portrait was painted; married women wore the ‘betrothal pin’ on their right side. Like rhetoricians, seventeenth-century artists were bound by rules and expectations for proper decorum, even in matters of dress. Costume was carefully chosen to suit the ideals of a particular culture or sitter and was used to convey a multitude of meanings. Knowledge of its associations and the history of costume can be crucial to the interpretation of portraiture. The Dutch Golden Age of painting was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. Dutch explorers charted new territory and settled abroad. Trade by the Dutch East-India Company thrived, and war heroes from the naval battles were decorated and became national heroes. During this time, The Dutch Old Masters began to prevail in the art world, creating a depth of realistic portraits of people and life in the area that has hardly been surpassed. The Golden Age painters depicted the scenes that their discerning new middle-class patrons wanted to see. This new wealth from merchant activities and exploration combined with a lack of church patronage, shifted art subjects away from biblical genres. Still lifes of items of everyday objects, landscapes, and seascapes reflecting the naval and trade power that the Republic enjoyed were popular. The large group portrait is also a standard subject often of a civic organisation. The new wealthy class were keen to have their portraits commissioned and thus many artists worked in this lucrative genre. This portrait was in the famous collection of Dr. Paul Viktorovich Delaroff (1852-1913) who was a legal advisor based in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk. He was the son of a Russian army general, he attended the Imperial School of St. Petersburg, earned a doctorate in law, and later taught civil law at the University of Kharkiv. However, he soon left academia to serve as an advisor at the Ministry of Public Works and eventually became a privy councillor to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia. Delaroff dedicated much of his life to the study of painting and engaged in art dealing on a large scale. Known for his charm and engaging conversation, he was a man of remarkable vitality. His extensive network enabled him to make several advantageous purchases and helped reignite interest in the Dutch school among Russian art enthusiasts. He amassed a vast collection of paintings, with some of his finest pieces loaned to museums in The Hague, Leiden, Berlin, and elsewhere. His impressive gallery of old master paintings was sold at auction in Paris during two sales in 1914, the first held on April 23-24, and the second from April 27 to May 2. Contained within a good quality period frame. Cornelis van der Voort, or van der Voorde (circa 1576 – circa 1624), was a distinguished Dutch portrait painter, art collector, art appraiser, and art dealer active during the early 17th century in Amsterdam. His oeuvre includes both individual and group portraits, notably the 'schuttersstukken' which portray members of local militias, and 'regentenstukken' depicting the regents of charitable institutions—a genre he notably pioneered. Van der Voort's contributions were instrumental in the evolution of portrait painting within the early 17th-century Dutch Republic, and he is particularly acclaimed for his introduction of the life-size, full-length format to the practice of Dutch portraiture. His oeuvre was highly sought after and regarded with great reverence. He significantly impacted the early portraiture of Rembrandt, as well as the works of Nicolaes Eliasz, Pickenoy, and Thomas de Keyser...

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