LIEVENS, Jan

The painting depicts the head and shoulders of an old bearded man. The fanciful studies from life, often exotically costumed, that Lievens, Rembrandt, and their followers painted in large numbers are not portraits as such and are known as tronies, the term for them that was in use at least by 1630. Those depicting old bearded men are sometimes known generically as prophets; here old age is associated with wisdom, not folly.

This character study of the head of a bearded man is particularly notable for its refined flesh tones and the subtlety of the colouring. At the end of his Leiden period, Lievens painted a series of head and shoulder or half-length studies of bearded old men. These can be compared to Rembrandt’s paintings from the same period. During the years around 1630, Rembrandt and Lievens were so closely associated, that they seem to have shared the same models.

This is a characteristic early painting of the artist from his Leiden period. It is certainly not a portrait. Some experts assumed that it is a fragment of a larger composition, perhaps Mary from an Annunciation, but it is not convincing. The painting is probably a tronie of a young girl. (Tronies are representations of particular character types, such as soldiers, orientals, old men or young women.) The upward gaze lends many of Lievens’s tronies a theatrical character emphasizing their position between portrait and history painting.

In addition to the more usual portraits and history paintings, like Rembrandt, was very much engaged in painting tronies - head and shoulder studies of figures often in exotic dress. The subjects were often, as in the present work, bearded old men, sometimes generically referred to as prophets. However, these pictures should not be seen as portraits nor studies for figures in larger compositions, but independent works portraying character and temperament, in this case old age and the wisdom that comes with it.

The attribution to Lievens is not universally accepted. Several scholars believe it is by an unknown artist in his circle.

This painting is probably a study for the larger version (164 by 231 cm) in the Mus�e des Beaux-Arts, Aix-en-Provence.

Also from Leiden, Jan Lievens shared Rembrandt’s teacher and studio. The two students’ works verge on the interchangeable, which is true for the Old Man in Oriental Garb, painted in Leiden c. 1628-30, when both artists used the same model.

Ephraim Bueno (1599-1655) was a Jewish physician and scholar in Amsterdam. Lievens’s etching has the identifying inscription: Dr. Ephraim Bonus, medicus hebraeus.

The painting was executed in Antwerp and it clearly shows the influence of Flemish painters.

Jan Jansz. Vos (1612-1667) was a Dutch playwright and poet. A glassmaker by trade, he also played an important role as stage-manager and director of the theatre.

The artist executed this painting shortly before his departure for England.

This painting is a ‘portrait histori�’ with contemporary sitters in the role of biblical or historical figures. The young man in his rich dress is most probably the palatine Prince Charles Louis (1617-1680), the eldest surviving son of the Winter King and Winter Queen, whereas the older man is his tutor Wolrad von Plessen (1560-1632), and they are represented as Alexander the Great and Aristotle.

The portrait histori� was rather popular at the Palatine court in exile. They are very often just likenesses of contemporary people dressed to represent biblical or historical persons, but Lievens succeeded in representing the young prince and his tutor as actors who are playing the roles of Alexander and Aristotle in perfection.

Rembrandt in armour is found not only in his self-portraits but in the present portrait of Rembrandt by Jan Lievens.

This painting, presenting the three half-length Old Testament figures in a crowded composition, was painted by Jan Lievens in the second half of the 1620s when he was working in Leiden with Rembrandt. Their relationship can be characterized as a kind of artistic rivalry in which the two young artists were equal. They studied each other’s work seeking inspiration for their own compositions. This can be seen in the choice of subject matter. Rembrandt also painted the story of Samson and Delilah at about the same time. However, this painting shows more differences than similarities in comparison with the work by Lievens.

For Lievens’s representation of the scene, a painting by Gerrit van Honthorst can be considered as source of inspiration.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 10 minutes):

Camille Saint-Saens: Samson et Delila, Delila’s aria

The painting is a study of the head and shoulders of an old bearded man, wearing a cap. Until the beginning of the 20th century this painting was attributed to Rembrandt. It dates from c. 1629, when both Rembrandt and Lievens, together in Leiden, painted numerous such studies of old men and women. Both Rembrandt and Lievens, and sometimes other artists in their close Leiden circle, often used the same model for different studies. Lievens made another study of the same bearded old portrayed here, seen from the same angle, but hatless, in Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig.

This painting is part of a series of four representing the personification of the four elements and the four ages of man. The second painting of the series combines air with youth. In the bare arms and shoulders of Youth the painter seems to want to demonstrate his ability to render the human body. Youth is depicted as a hunter with gun and shot birds.

This painting is part of a series of four representing the personification of the four elements and the four ages of man. The third painting of the series combines earth with maturity. Maturity is depicted as a gardener with spade and basket.

This painting is part of a series of four representing the personification of the four elements and the four ages of man. The first painting of the series combines fire with childhood. A boy, cheeks puffed, is blowing on an ember so as to light a torch. The ember in the tongs and the young flame on the wick represent the only source of light.

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This painting is part of a series of four representing the personification of the four elements and the four ages of man. The fourth painting of the series combines water with old age. Old Age is depicted as a fishmonger with pail and fish-tube.

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George Frideric Handel: Water Music, Suite No. 1

This painting was executed in a collegial competition between Rembrandt and Jan Lievens,

The powerful sense of drama and illumination that characterizes Rembrandt’s portraits is also a feature of his Leiden colleague Jan Lievens, with whom Rembrandt was in close contact. Both painters experimented with sources of artificial light, which created interesting reflections and shadows.

In the case of this painting it is assumed that the model was the painter himself.