Lot 50: Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a black costume with lace collar and cuffs

David Bailly (Leiden 1584-1657)
Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, in a black costume with lace collar and cuffs
oil on panel
71.1 x 59.7 cm.
inscribed 'B.V.D. Helst S V Hoogstraaten Pinx 1664' on the reverse

" ! " : Lot is imported from outside the EU. For each Lot the Buyer’s Premium is calculated as 37.05% of the Hammer Price up to a value of €5,000, plus 31.1% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 21.58% of any amount in excess of €400,000.
David Bailly was born in Leiden in 1584, the son of Pieter Bailly, a Flemish immigrant who was a calligrapher and fencing-master. He studied under Jacques de Gheyn II and subsequently de Gheyn's brother-in-law, the surgeon and painter Adriaen Verburgh in 1601. After his apprenticeship, he continued his training with the Amsterdam portraitist Cornelis van der Voort. In the winter of 1608 Bailly started out as a journeyman, spending a year in Hamburg and then travelling via several German cities to Venice and Rome. On his return, Bailly visited German courts, working for local princes, including the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Although no paintings survive from the immediate period following his return to the Netherlands in 1613, descriptions in old sale catalogues suggest that Bailly may have produced history paintings in the manner of his contemporaries Pieter Lastman and the Pynas brothers. Bailly remained in Leiden until his death in October 1657.

Bailly executed portraits in meticulous small-scale drawings as well as actual life-size paintings. They often depict professors or students from the University of Leiden or fellow artists such as Jan Pynas and Crispijn de Passe the Younger, or even himself. In 1643, Bailly was among the founding-members of the Leiden Guild of St. Luke, of which he became the dean the following year. Bailly is well known for his original specialty of combining portraiture and vanitas still life elements. One of Bailly's most famous paintings is his Vanitas Still life with a Portrait of a Young Painter, dated 1651, kept in the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden. The still life painters Harmen and Pieter van Steenwijck were his nephews and pupils. Gerrit Dou also seems to have been influenced by Bailly's work.

We are grateful to Mr Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original.