Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 17th Century.
The reverse of the copper bears a later inscription mistakenly attributing the portrait to the Italian Fra’ Galgario (4 March 1655 – December 1743), born Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, and also called Fra’ Vittore del Galgario, mainly active in Bergamo as a portraitist during the Rococo or late-Baroque period. This portrait dates from before his birth, and is Dutch not Italian.
He wears his cloak slung artistically over the left shoulder, (this was so fashionable they were even worn indoors) and then wrapped round his body as was the mode. Waistlines rose and sleeves became fuller, and both body and upper sleeves might be slashed to show the shirt beneath. By 1640 doublets were full and unfitted, and might be open at the front below the high waist to show the shirt.
Round his neck is a 'falling band'; this style is often thought to signify clerics or lawyers. Bands did not become academically significant until they were abandoned as an ordinary lay fashion in the 1660s. They became identified as specifically applicable to clerical, legal and academic individuals in the early eighteenth century, when they became longer and narrower in form.
Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as the Stadtholder's circle. The majority of his work is made up of individual portraits, though he also painted family portraits, double portraits and pendant portraits. His work influenced a number of artists.
SIZE: 26 x 22 centimetres. 10.26 x 8.9 inches.
PROVENANCE: Collection of a retired North Country dealer.
NOTE: There are two slight creases in the copper, only visible in a certain angle of light.
Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art has dated this piece to the 17th Century.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Roy Precious - Antiques & Fine Art Profile Page
Portrait of a Gentleman C.1650; Follower of Van Der Helst.
