Lot 94: OTHER PROPERTIES BARENT GRAAT AMSTERDAM 1628 - 1709 AN EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, AGED

OTHER PROPERTIES BARENT GRAAT AMSTERDAM 1628 - 1709 AN EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, AGED 55, RIDING A BAY HORSE, IN THE POSITION OF THE LEVADE, BEFORE CLASSICAL RUINS IN AN ITALIANATE LANDSCAPE

inscribed with the initials and age of the sitter upper left: AE (in ligature) 55./W.F.Z.V.B

oil on canvas

CATALOGUE NOTE

There is only one other equestrian portrait known by Barent Graat, depicting Joan Ortt (1642-1672), which is in a Dutch private collection and which is of a larger format (see C. Dumas, In het zadel. Het Nederlands ruiterportret van 1550 tot 1900, exhibition catalogue, Leeuwarden/Den Bosch/Assen 1979-80, p. 105, cat. no. 88).

The Netherlands does not have a long tradition of equestrian portraits as do other Northern European countries and Habsburg Spain. In these lands in the first half of the 17th Century these are mainly portraits of kings, princes or military commanders, intended to impress. During the second half of the 17th Century the equestrian portraits became less the sole preserve of rulers and military commanders: less official and less military. Affluent citizens and merchants were now also portrayed mounted, perhaps as they acquired rural estates.

89.1 by 78 cm.