DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68073#0236
210
OLD WORLD MASTERS
feel the lion’s force behind those glowing, piercing eyes, behind the
energetic chin and cheek bones, and the exuberantly flowing, broad
waves of the bushy, dark hair remind us of a lion’s mane.
“We easily recognize in Rembrandt’s work those portraits of which
the sitters were strangers to him. The present one, in which he put so
much of his own self, as he did only with friend’s portraits, does not
belong to these. He has ornated the young cavalier with a costume
which appealed to his imagination, the details of which we know from
portraits of persons in his surroundings and self-portraits: the breast-
plate, the colored scarf around the neck, the golden chain with medal-
lion, the green velvet mantle with gold-embroidered border. On the
companion-piece, on the other hand, the lady wears a costume and
pieces of jewelry which we find also in Saskia’s portraits.
“ Strange to say, the female figure itself has so much likeness to Saskia
that we would be tempted to believe it to be a portrait of her, if there
was not the portrait of the cavalier as the companion-picture pre-
venting us from this supposition. But we know that Saskia had a
sister, Titia, who visited the Rembrandt family frequently within
these years (a portrait-sketch, a pen-drawing made of her in 1639 by
Rembrandt is in the Stockholm Museum). She and her husband
Francois Copal, were witnesses at the baptism of Saskia’s first chil-
dren. We know also a portrait of Frangois Copal’s brother, Antoni,
in the Rothschild Collection, Vienna, which Rembrandt painted in
1635. The sitter of this portrait undoubtedly has a resemblance to
the gentleman in our picture, almost as much as the companion-
piece resembles Saskia. Is thus the theory too bold that the present
portrait represents Frangois Copal and the companion-piece at Vienna,
Titia, his wife?”
The portrait came to the present owner, Mr. Erickson, directly
from the famous Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna, purchased by Prince
Liechtenstein from the Marchesa Incontri, Florence. Previously the
picture had been in the Collections of the Comte Koucheleff Besbo-
rodko, Paris; the Due de Choiseul Praslin, Paris (1793), and B. da
Costa, The Hague (1752).
OLD WORLD MASTERS
feel the lion’s force behind those glowing, piercing eyes, behind the
energetic chin and cheek bones, and the exuberantly flowing, broad
waves of the bushy, dark hair remind us of a lion’s mane.
“We easily recognize in Rembrandt’s work those portraits of which
the sitters were strangers to him. The present one, in which he put so
much of his own self, as he did only with friend’s portraits, does not
belong to these. He has ornated the young cavalier with a costume
which appealed to his imagination, the details of which we know from
portraits of persons in his surroundings and self-portraits: the breast-
plate, the colored scarf around the neck, the golden chain with medal-
lion, the green velvet mantle with gold-embroidered border. On the
companion-piece, on the other hand, the lady wears a costume and
pieces of jewelry which we find also in Saskia’s portraits.
“ Strange to say, the female figure itself has so much likeness to Saskia
that we would be tempted to believe it to be a portrait of her, if there
was not the portrait of the cavalier as the companion-picture pre-
venting us from this supposition. But we know that Saskia had a
sister, Titia, who visited the Rembrandt family frequently within
these years (a portrait-sketch, a pen-drawing made of her in 1639 by
Rembrandt is in the Stockholm Museum). She and her husband
Francois Copal, were witnesses at the baptism of Saskia’s first chil-
dren. We know also a portrait of Frangois Copal’s brother, Antoni,
in the Rothschild Collection, Vienna, which Rembrandt painted in
1635. The sitter of this portrait undoubtedly has a resemblance to
the gentleman in our picture, almost as much as the companion-
piece resembles Saskia. Is thus the theory too bold that the present
portrait represents Frangois Copal and the companion-piece at Vienna,
Titia, his wife?”
The portrait came to the present owner, Mr. Erickson, directly
from the famous Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna, purchased by Prince
Liechtenstein from the Marchesa Incontri, Florence. Previously the
picture had been in the Collections of the Comte Koucheleff Besbo-
rodko, Paris; the Due de Choiseul Praslin, Paris (1793), and B. da
Costa, The Hague (1752).