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Lot Essay
The identity of this portrait’s sitter has yet to be recognized, although he must have been a man of considerable wealth and importance, as at least four examples of this composition are known. The gentleman’s slashed, black and gold doublet, his fur-lined robe and aiglet-studded beret reflect his prominent status, as does his dignified expression. Joos van Cleve painted the prime, autograph version of this composition around 1520/21 (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel). It shows the sitter half-length, holding a rosary, similarly set against a pale blue background. Here, the artist has reduced his composition to a bust-length format with an arched top. Working from black-and-white photographs, John Hand initially published the present portrait as a copy in his 2004 catalogue raisonné (loc. cit.). Dr. Hand has since viewed the painting in person, and after studying high resolution images, now considers the picture to be a product of Joos van Cleve’s workshop with the possible participation of the artist himself (written communication, 8 June 2021). Dendrochronological analysis by Prof. Dr. Peter Klein lends further support to Dr. Hand’s attribution, as it suggests an earliest felling date for the Baltic/Polish oak panel of 1525 (written communication, 16 December 2011). Accounting for a minimum two years for seasoning, Klein proposes the earliest creation date for the painting to be 1527 upward, with a more plausible creation date from 1533 upward.
Joos van Cleve registered as a master painter at the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1511 and later served as co-dean in 1519, 1520 and 1525, marking the beginning of a distinguished career in that city, producing large-scale triptychs, small devotional panels as well as numerous portraits, both devotional and secular. His abundant skill in this area saw him garnering commissions from across Europe. Between 1528/29 and 1535, no mention of the painter is known in Antwerp and it is typically assumed, following the assertion of the historian Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), that he was for some part of this period called to the court of François I of France to paint the King (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and his queen, Eleanor of Austria (Royal Collection, Hampton Court). He also painted a portrait of Henry VIII in around 1535 (Royal Collection). Van Cleve appears to have been especially active as a portraitist during the final decade of his life, with over twenty portraits attributed to him by Max J. Friedländer during this period.
Two further examples of this portrait are in the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover (see M. Wolfson, Die deutschen und niederländischen Gemälde bis 1550, Hannover, Hannover, 1992, p. 216, no. 85) and a later, inferior copy sold at the Dorotheum, Vienna, 24 June 2014, lot 5, as Follower of Joos van Cleve.
A wax seal on the reverse of the panel (fig. 1) depicts the arms of Brydges impaling van Hatten quartering others, for James Brydges, 9th Baron Chandos, 1st Earl of Carnarvon and 1st Duke of Chandos (1673-1744) and his third wife Lydia Catherine Van Hatten (1693-1750), the daughter of the Dutch-born merchant John Van Hatten (d. 1713) and Lydia Davall, whom he married on 18 April 1736. The seal's design therefore must date from between 1736 and 1744. The same arms are displayed within a lozenge-shaped shield on the dowager duchess’s tombstone in Shaw St. Mary’s Church, Newbury, Berkshire.
Joos van Cleve registered as a master painter at the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1511 and later served as co-dean in 1519, 1520 and 1525, marking the beginning of a distinguished career in that city, producing large-scale triptychs, small devotional panels as well as numerous portraits, both devotional and secular. His abundant skill in this area saw him garnering commissions from across Europe. Between 1528/29 and 1535, no mention of the painter is known in Antwerp and it is typically assumed, following the assertion of the historian Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), that he was for some part of this period called to the court of François I of France to paint the King (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and his queen, Eleanor of Austria (Royal Collection, Hampton Court). He also painted a portrait of Henry VIII in around 1535 (Royal Collection). Van Cleve appears to have been especially active as a portraitist during the final decade of his life, with over twenty portraits attributed to him by Max J. Friedländer during this period.
Two further examples of this portrait are in the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover (see M. Wolfson, Die deutschen und niederländischen Gemälde bis 1550, Hannover, Hannover, 1992, p. 216, no. 85) and a later, inferior copy sold at the Dorotheum, Vienna, 24 June 2014, lot 5, as Follower of Joos van Cleve.
A wax seal on the reverse of the panel (fig. 1) depicts the arms of Brydges impaling van Hatten quartering others, for James Brydges, 9th Baron Chandos, 1st Earl of Carnarvon and 1st Duke of Chandos (1673-1744) and his third wife Lydia Catherine Van Hatten (1693-1750), the daughter of the Dutch-born merchant John Van Hatten (d. 1713) and Lydia Davall, whom he married on 18 April 1736. The seal's design therefore must date from between 1736 and 1744. The same arms are displayed within a lozenge-shaped shield on the dowager duchess’s tombstone in Shaw St. Mary’s Church, Newbury, Berkshire.