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Govaert Flinck , Dutch, 1615-1660

Title

Head of an Old Man

Datec.1642

MediumOil on wood panel

Dimensions

64 x 47 cm

Signedupper left (indistinctly): G F

Credit LinePurchased, 1886

Object numberNGI.254

Exhibition HistoryCentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964

Label TextBorn in the German town of Cleves, Flinck trained with Rembrandt in Amsterdam in the mid–1630s. In his first years as an independent artist, he painted many biblical works in his master’s style. Like Rembrandt, Flinck also painted tronies (the seventeenth-century Dutch word for ‘faces’), which are heads that express a certain type or character, often in fancy or oriental costume. A tronie was not a commission and the identity of the sitter is irrelevant. In this painting Flinck shows off his skill in rendering the hair, skin and captivating gaze of the old man.