Head of a Boy
style of Carel Fabritius (Middenbeemster 1622 - Delft 1654)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1650 - 1659
Materials
Oil on panel and gilt
Measurements
247 x 190 mm (9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Holland
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1246479
Caption
This painting of a boy in simple dress presents a mystery. Formerly thought to be an extremely rare work by the Dutch artist Carel Fabritius, this attribution has since been discounted for the picture’s lack of finesse in the brushwork. The compelling sensitivity of the characterisation is nonetheless indicative of a skilled hand and an intimate knowledge of his style. The question of authorship remains open.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, Head of a Boy in the style of Carel Fabritius (Middenbeemster 1622 – Delft 1654), ?1650s. A bust-length portrait, facing, wearing a brown coat and large brown hat, a white linen scarf tied round his neck.
Provenance
Thoré-Bürger's collection, Paris (?) by 1868, auctioned with rest of collection, Paris, 5 December 1892, lot 12 (as 'portrait presume du jeune Franszoon Hals ... attribue a Carel Fabritius); bought by Charles Sedelmeyer (1837–1925), for 1150 fr; E.T. Linfold, from whom bought by Agnew, 20.1.1920; sold to A. Rofe, 13.7.1927; with Agnew 1938 and acquired by Mrs Greville the same year; The bequest of Margaret (Anderson) McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald - later Dame Margaret - Henry Fulke Greville, DBE (1863-1942) from probate records linked with the donation of the property to the National Trust in 1943. This item found on the record for Polesden Lacey pictures, drawings etc., stored in the cellar, page 162.
Credit line
Polesden Lacey, The McEwan Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
on back of panel, on small piece of paper held by four red wax blobs in a fine hand, (Thore/Burger?) in ink 'Franszoon Hols?/Carel Fabritius?' and in later hand on another piece of paper 'Fabritius-Paris'. Below, traces of an earlier, larger circular stamp (remains of a French customs mark) directly on the panel, in which only the letter 'C' is visible [these must overlay, or else the panel has been thinned so as to remove previous inscriptions ascribing the picture to Rembrandt, and dating it to 1636, acc. to Thore/Burger's account of it in 1868]
Makers and roles
style of Carel Fabritius (Middenbeemster 1622 - Delft 1654), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606 – Amsterdam 1669), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Frans Hals (Antwerp c.1581 - Haarlem 1666), artist
References
W. Bürger, ‘Dirk Hals et les fils de Frans’, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXV, No.5 (Nov. 1868), p. 399 Brown 1981 Christopher Brown, Carel Fabritius, Oxford, 1981, pp.134-35, no.R14 Suzman Jowell 2003 Frances Suzman Jowell, ‘Thoré-Bürger’s art collection: “a rather unusual collection of bric-à-brac”’, Simiolus, vol. XXX (2003), nos.1/2, p.64, esp. nn.43 & 44, & fig.21