Lot 74: Pieter Pietersz. (Antwerp 1540-1603 Amsterdam)

Portrait of Cornelis Jorisz. Roodhoorn (1564-1599), three-quarter-length, in a black slashed doublet with brown sleeves and a ruff, a sword in one hand and gloves in the other, standing on a terrace overlooking a walled garden with a gate-house beyond
inscribed and dated 'A o 1589 AEtatis 25' (AE linked upper left, on the escutcheon)
oil on panel
45 3/8 x 34 1/2 in. (116.2 x 87.7 cm.)

Ghent, Union des Peintres Gantois, no. 109.

Dael Collection, Ghent.
Van Tilt sale; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 29 April 1935, lot 108.
Sale; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 20 October 1964, lot 618, as 'Frans Pourbus'.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 3 March 1965, lot 30, as 'Frans Pourbus the Younger'.
Martin Crabbe; Sotheby's, London, 3 July 1991, lot 158 as 'Attributed to Pieter Pietersz.', where acquired by the present owners.

Pieter Pietersz. was the eldest son of Pieter Aertsen and Cathalyne van den Beuckelaer. According to Carel van Mander, both he and his younger brother, Aert Pietersz. (c. 1550-1612) were taught by their father. Although the brothers were born in Antwerp, they returned to their father's native city in 1555. In 1575 Pieter enrolled in the Guild of Saint Luke in Haarlem, returning to Amsterdam in 1584/5 where he established himself as one of the leading portraitists of the Amsterdam patriciate. The styles of the two brothers are sometimes considered to be indistinguishable and an attribution of the present picture to Aert cannot be fully discounted; both used architectural motifs and a similar means of inscribing and dating their work. However, Pieter used more shadow to model his sitters and the detailing of the hands also allows for an element of differentiation (see M. Beekman, in 'Portraiture 1580-1600', in G. Luijten, et. al., exhibition catalogue, Dawn of the Golden Age, Rijksmuseum, 1993, pp. 393-4, no. 47, for the portraits by Pieter Pietersz. dated 1588 of Mattheus Augustijnsz. Steyn and Dirckje Tymansdr Gael, in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Peter van den Brink, to whom we are grateful, has confirmed the attribution of the present picture to Pieter Pietersz., noting in particular the bold and characteristic handling of the sitter's face and hands, as well as the typical brushwork of the trees in the background.

This picture ranks among the significant group of Amsterdam patriciate portraits, and depicts Cornelis Jorisz. Roodhoorn (Amsterdam 1564-1599), Alderman of Amsterdam between 1596-9 (information from the Stichtung Iconographisch Bureau, The Hague). According to the inscription on the escutcheon, Roodhoorn was 25 years old when the present picture was painted and it was likely to have been commissioned to mark his marriage to Grietge Willemsdr Backer, whose portrait of similiar dimensions and date was formerly in the collection of Mrs. Mary van den Bergh, New York. Peter van den Brink considers this pair of portraits to be the prime versions, of which other versions exist in the Amsterdam Historiches Museum (B 2536-9); they will be included in his forthcoming article on the artist.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.