This portrait, by a Member of his Circle, is beautifully executed and has great charm. It is unusual in being a form of double portrait and that the sitter does not look at the viewer.
The attractive young boy looks away from us and seems to be showing the painting he holds to someone at his side. The portrait is almost certainly that of his deceased father and there is pride in the way the child shows the image and meets the gaze of the unseen viewer.
There is no cheap sentiment here - perhaps a touch of sadness, but the boy is strengthened by his pride of family and self.
This is an exquisite painting that treats the youthful sitter with respect and sensitivity.
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NICHOLAS MAES (1634 - 1693) A pupil of Rembrandt in 1648, by the 1650s he had a reputation for painting the intimate life of women and children. In the 1660s, however, Maes began to turn more to portraiture, and after a visit to Antwerp around the middle of the decade his style changed dramatically and the fashionable portraits he now specialized in were closer to Van Dyck than to Rembrandt. In 1673 he moved permanently to Amsterdam and had great success with this kind of picture. So famous did he become it was considered a privilege to have one's portrait painted by Maes.
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SIZE: 26 x 18.5 inches canvas
32 x 24.5 inches inc. frame
PROVENANCE: Private Collection, France
Private Collection, England
Verso: 19th c. handwritten inscription in French - brief biography of Maes.
Handwritten old inventory number.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Sold...portrait of a Young Boy C.1680; Circle of Nicholas Maes
