Lot 129: Jacques de Gheyn III (Haarlem 1596-1641 Utrecht)

Jacques de Gheyn III (Haarlem 1596-1641 Utrecht) Study of a bearded old man in a heavy cloak and cap pen and brown ink, fragmentary watermark, brown ink framing lines 8 1/8 x 6 3/8 in. (20.6 x 16 cm.)

20.6 x 16 cm.

I.Q. van Regteren Altena, Jacques de Gheyn: Three Generations, The Hague, 1983, II, 'de Gheyn III', no. 30, III, 'de Gheyn III', pl. 12.

with R.W.P. de Vries, Amsterdam; from whom purchased by I.Q. van Regteren Altena on 9 December 1930 for 40 guilders (Inventory book: '1042. J. de Gheyn? grijzaard').

This forceful drawing probably dates from around 1616, at which time Jacques de Gheyn III was working on his series of the Seven Wise Men of Greece (see lot 132). Other drawings on a similar theme survive from the same date, showing venerable bearded men swathed in mantles and gesticulating with gnarled hands. They may be prophets, philosophers or magicians of some form: they can appear alone, such as The Prophet Aaron, which was sold at Tajan, Paris, on 24 March 2003 (lot 15), or in pairs, as seen in Two old men quarrelling in the Stiftung Klassik und Kunstsammlungen in Weimar (van Regteren Altena, 1983, op. cit., no. 34). In both his choice of subject and his style, with its crisply-hatched monumental forms, the younger de Gheyn was evidently greatly influenced by his father. Jacques de Gheyn II (1565-1629) had, in the first years of the 17th Century, executed drawings of a comparable type, such as the Seated judge in ancient times, also from the van Regteren Altena collection, which was sold at Christie's, London, 10 July 2014, lot 29.