Lot 67: Jacob van Oost I (Bruges 1601-1671) A young man at a stone window

A young man at a stone window playing a theorbo-lute
signed and dated 'I.V.OOST.F: 1646' (on ledge, lower centre)
oil on canvas
89 x 75.2cm (35 1/16 x 29 5/8in).

PROVENANCE:
Acquired by Jean-François Michiels in Saint Petersburg, circa 1854
His collection, Bruges
His daughters, Coralie and Léonie Michiels, 1907, and thence by family descent to the present owner

The present owner's ancestor, Jean-François Michiels, who acquired the painting, was a photographer and member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Bruges. After having taught the art of photography to the Crown Prince of Prussia (the future Emperor Frederick III), Michiels travelled to Saint Petersburg in order to make a photographic record of the major paintings in the Hermitage. There he acquired a number of paintings, by mostly Dutch and Flemish masters, including the present work and others by David Teniers the Younger and Frans Hals. An inventory exists for the insurance valuation of the Michiels Collection in 1907, which includes the present painting.