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Portrait of a Preacher
Portrait of a Preacher

Portrait of a Preacher

Frans Hals (Dutch, 1581 to 1585–1666)
about 1660
Medium/TechniqueOil on panel
Dimensions36.2 x 30.2 cm (14 1/4 x 11 7/8 in.)
Framed: 57.8 x 51.4 x 7.6 cm (22 3/4 x 20 1/4 x 3 in.)
Credit LinePromised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession numberL-R 71.2018
On View
On view
ClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Description
Frans Hals pioneered a new manner of portraiture done with very visible brushstrokes. The bold marks of paint appear distinct when viewed up close, but meld into a unified whole from a distance. In the painter’s last decade, he made a number of small-scale portraits like this one.
ProvenanceProbably Baron Karl von Liphart (b. 1808 – d. 1891), Raadi Manor, Tartu, Estonia and Florence; until about 1919, to his grandson Reinhold von Liphart (b. 1864 – d. 1940), Raadi Manor, Tartu, Estonia [see note 1]. By 1923, Edward W. Bok (b. 1863 – d. 1930), Philadelphia [see note 2]; by inheritance to his widow, Mary Louise (Curtis) Bok, later Mrs. Efrem Zimbalist (b. 1876 – d. 1970), Philadelphia; to her son, Cary W. Bok (b. 1905 - d. 1970), Philadelphia; June 25, 1971, Bok estate sale, Christie's, London, lot 18, sold to Alfred Brod Gallery, London [see note 3]. 1971 until 1974, Robert Potel, London. 1974, Alfred Brod Gallery, London. Robert H. Smith (b. 1925 – d. 2009), Bethesda, MD. Noortman Master Paintings, London. Private collection, London and Brussels. 2006, sold by Noortman Master Paintings to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA [see note 4].

NOTES:
[1] Baron Karl Eduard von Liphart (b. 1808 - d. 1891) was an Estonian nobleman, art expert and collector. His ancestral home at Raadi Manor, Tartu, Estonia – referred to as Rathshof, Dorpat, Estonia in German – housed the family’s already significant art collection. Liphart moved to Florence in 1862 and remained there until his death. His collection was likely inherited by his grandson, Reinhold von Liphart (b. 1864 - d. 1940), and moved back to Estonia, where it was combined with the family collection at Raadi Manor.

According to Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, vol 3 (London, 1910), the painting was in the Liphart collection, Dresden, and formerly in Ratshof (Raadi Manor). Rudi Ekkart and Quentin Buvelot, Dutch Portraits: The Age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals (The Hague, 2007), cat. 26, note that the painting remained in Tartu until 1919 and was subsequently in Dresden. That the painting was in Dresden remains unconfirmed.

[2] Wilhelm Valentiner, Frans Hals: Des Meisters Gemälde (Berlin, 1923).

[3] Included in the exhibition "Twelve Portraits" (Brod Gallery, London, September 24 - October 15, 1971), cat. no. 1.

[4] Provenance from 1971 until 2006 is taken from Frederik Duparc, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (New Haven, 2011), pp. 162-163, cat. no. 28.