Portrait of a Man
Ca. 1620.Not on display
The 1910 catalogue states that Bredius attributed this painting to Jacop Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594-1652), ascription that was officially accepted by the Museum in 1985. However, neither the typology nor the style correspond to Cuyp`s portraits. Moreover, the oval-shaped panel is characteristic of Amsterdam portraitists. Fred Meijer thus believes that this could be the work of a painter who belonged to Werner van den Valckert`s (1575/95-1635/55) circle. Indeed, the model`s posture and, in particular, the movement of his hand, which draws on compositional devices used in Mannerist portraiture, are reminiscent of Valckert`s portrait Man with a Ring, dated 1617 (Rijksmuseum, inv. A3920). The X-ray does not reveal compositional changes, indicating that this may be a copy of an original by Valckert himself, the whereabouts of which is now unknown (Posada Kubissa, T.: Pintura holandesa en el Museo Nacional del Prado. Catálogo razonado, 2009, p. 316).
