Lot 68: Jacques des Rousseaux , Tourcoing circa 1600 - 1638 Leiden Head of a bearded old man, reading a book oil on panel

oil on panel

measurements note 31.8 by 26.8 cm.

Anonymous sale, The Hague, Van Marle & Bignell, 16 December 1958, lot 122 (as Rembrandt).

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
With its characteristic modelling of the old man's features and the amazingly loose brushwork in the beard, this painting clearly demonstrates how strongly Des Rousseaux's tronies were influenced by the early work of Jan Lievens (1607-1674). Like Des Rousseaux's Old Man Praying, in a private collection, Switzerlandυ1, the present work is in its execution remarkably comparable to Lievens' Bearded Old Man, in the Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum, Brunswick.υ2
Des Rousseaux's single figures and tronies were studies for the artist's religious works and many of the, often elderly, sitters in his paintings were used as a model on several occasions. A near identical version of the present work was sold, London, Christie's, 25 April 2001, lot 68.υ3

1. See W. Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/Pfalz 1983, vol. IV, p. 2506, cat. no. 1676, reproduced p. 2512.
2. Ibid., vol. III, p. 1801, cat. no. 1263, reproduced p. 1902.
3. Ibid., vol. VI, p. 3741, cat. no. 2428, reproduced p. 4046.