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Jan Lievens , Dutch, 1607-1674

Title

Head of an Old Man

Datec.1629

MediumOil on wood panel

Dimensions

59.7 x 48 cm

Signedlower left: L

Credit LinePresented, Sir Edgar Vincent, 1910

Object numberNGI.607

DescriptionAt the start of his career, Lievens worked closely, and may even have shared a studio, with Rembrandt, exchanging ideas, compositions and subjects. Their painting technique was so similar during this period that some of their unsigned works are difficult to attribute with certainty. Scholars agree that Lievens was initially superior to Rembrandt, but was surpassed by him around 1629. In 1628 Lievens’s work became brownish in tone and featured strong light-dark contrasts, due to the influence of Dutch followers of Caravaggio in Utrecht, such as Gerrit van Honthorst. Head of an Old Man is one of the artist’s first works in this style, which was soon adopted by Rembrandt. It is not a portrait, but a so-called tronie (a seventeenth-century Dutch word for ‘face’). It was not commissioned but made on the artist’s own initiative and was a study that expressed a certain type or character. The identity of the sitter in a tronie is irrelevant. Rembrandt in particular is known for his many tronies.
ProvenanceHenry J. Pfungst, London; Christie's, London, 13 May 1899, Sir Cecil Miles sale, lot 117; McLean; Sir Edgar Vincent, Esher, Surrey; presented, Sir Edgar Vincent, 1910 Exhibition HistoryCentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964

Trove, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 3 December 2014 - 8 March 2015

Turning Heads - Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, KSMKA - Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Antwerp, 20 October 2023 - 21 January 2024
Label TextAt the start of his career, Lievens worked closely, or probably even shared a studio, with Rembrandt, exchanging ideas, compositions and subjects. In 1628, Lievens’s work became brownish in tone and featured strong light-dark contrasts under the influence of Dutch followers of Caravaggio in Utrecht, including Gerrit van Honthorst. Head of an old Man is one the artist’s first works in this style, which was soon adopted by Rembrandt. This head is not a portrait, but a so-called tronie (a seventeenth-century Dutch word for ‘face’), a study that expressed a certain type or character.